PUBLISHED 09/15/2006
1965, 1988, 1983: Gatorade + Powerbar + Squeezy
By Kristin Baver
Breakthrough: Gave runners the nutritional means to get over "the wall"
In 1965, a year before the launch of Runner's World, the only people drinking Gatorade were football players at the University of Florida.
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| Courtesy Gatorade |
But by the early '70s, the sports drink had made its way to road races and other events--and the U.S. fuel industry took off. Energy bars came onto the scene in 1983 when Olympic marathoner Brian Maxwell cooked up the first PowerBars and sold them out of his car at road races in California. Five years later, Tim Noakes, a professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, experimented with complex carbohydrates as an energy source for marathoners. The result was the first energy gel--the Squeezy. It hit markets in Britain and New Zealand in 1988, three years before GU landed on U.S. shelves.
Fresh Thinking: Last summer, runners got more options. Clif introduced Shot Bloks and Jelly Belly unveiled Sports Beans, adding more fuel to the $2-billion-plus fuel industry.
1986: Coolmax
By Christine Fennessy
Breakthrough: Offered cool comfort in the summer, warm protection in the winter, and less claminess year-round
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| Courtesy Invista |
It used to be that you needed 19,000 vent holes in a singlet to keep you dry. Coolmax changed all that in 1986 with the introduction of shorts and shirts made with its performance polyester. The grooves in the fibers meant the moisture didn't camp out on your shirt or you; it got wicked away and evaporated. Soon, socks, liners, sports bras, and compression shorts were also being made from performance fabrics.
Fresh Thinking: Today, some fabric goes beyond keeping runners dry with antistink, stain-resistant fibers that also offer UV-protection.
