Frederik Van Lierde won the Ironman World Championship with the eighth fastest time in the 35-year history of the event. Van Lierde finished the 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride through lava fields and marathon run in 8 hours, 12 minutes, 29 seconds to become the second Belgian winner in the competition's history.
The Swiss On Cloudracer is the shoe that Van Lierde wore on his way to the championship. The thinking behind the Cloudracer is that it is a running-specific shoe made for the road in mind and that the human foot isn’t made to run on concrete and therefore distorts the way our body might absorb and disperse stress during such a high-impact exercise. The CloudTec system within the Cloudracer uses tubed rubber on the sole of the shoe and uses the both the rubber and the void space to make a cushioning system that is described as being like landing on sand and pushes off on a running track.
The Cloudracer has been worn among some of the most successful moments for athletes. The shoe has over 40 victories and more than 30 podiums this year alone. Swiss Simone Niggli-Luder, won her ninth and last Orienteering overall world cup in the On last weekend. The Kenian Geoffrey Gikni Ndungu from team Run2gether raced to the first place at Jungfrau Marathon with the On Cloudracer in September. Olympic gold medalist, Nicola Spirig from Switzerland, also won her first race after the Olympics and beat her personal best time with the On. You can pick up a pair of Cloudracers for $130.
