Rykä. Love yourself.

Rykä, the footwear brand exclusively for women, is back in South Africa – imported by the Tekkie Town retail chain. To celebrate, Tekkie Town recently held a women’s event where ladies were invited to spend the morning trying on the shoes and talking to sales staff about which pair would suit their needs the best.

Ladies could try on and inspect the shoes at their own leisure.

The morning was fitted out with things a woman might enjoy. Female company, relaxing massages, huge pink cupcakes – and SHOES! The shoes offer a narrower heel, roomier forefoot and a more secure footbed – all designed to better fit a woman’s foot.

Tekkie Town's staff were on hand if people needed help with their shoes or needed extra information about the brand and/or products.

Rykä is designed by women, for women and aims to create products for women that want to look great and feel great while being dedicated to enhancing women’s physical, mental and emotional health and fitness. The range covers footwear for a wide variety of activities, from training to walking to trail running.

Jo-ané Paulsen and Tania Rossouw, brand ambassadors, were at the launch. They are very happy with the brand and spoke of how pleasantly surprised they were with the shoes.

The brand also believes in giving back. Here in SA, Tekkie Town are donating R5 from every pair of Rykä shoes sold to Journey of Hope, an organisation of breast cancer survivors (both male and female) spreading the awareness of breast cancer. As part of their efforts, Journey of Hope are hosting a motorcycle ride that will take place 5-14 October. They will depart from Ficksburg in the Free State, travelling to KwaZulu Natal, Mpumulanga and finishing in Soweto. Their full route can be found on their website: www.journeyofhope.co.za/journey.html.

Ladies were treated to relaxing foot and back massages and delicious treats.

The launch event itself contributed to the Light from Africa foundation, whose venue ART in the FOREST was hired to host Rykä’s reintroduction to the SA market and consumer. The foundation provides children affected by HIV/AIDS in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and their care workers with therapeutic creative healing through clay.

Two Oceans another adidas marathon

From next year, adidas will add the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon to the number of top international marathons they sponsor.  For adidas SA 2013 will be the “year of running” with some exciting new developments, promises MD Winand Krawinkel. They plan to be involved during the whole build-up to the marathon, not just the week before, and their retail partners will benefit from a range of Climalite technical Two Oceans branded clothing and memorabilia to sell.

Western Cape MEC of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism Alan Winde, Solly Moeng, chairman of the Two Oceans Committee and adidas SA MD Winand Krawinkel inspecting an official T-shirt

The official Two Oceans t-shirts are available in a variety of colours: a bright yellow for the half marathon, teal blue for the full marathon and earthy orange for the trail runners and come in men’s and women’s styles. Apart from the moisture management technology, the shirts feature reflective technology that will ensure that runners are visible in all light conditions.

Ladies Ultra Tee

Mens Trail Tee

Mens 21km Tee

The 3-year partnership with the Two Oceans will give adidas high-profile access to the running community where they will promote their running initiatives like adi-active, the park runs and also talk about their technical product. Supported by icon Haille Gebrselassie – who wants to come and run the race –  and Russian twins, Elena and Olesya Nurgalieva, adidas SA wants to use their race involvement to promote running and help develop a new generation of runners not previously exposed to the sport, says Krawinkel.

Two Oceans GM Rowan James, Winand Krawinkel and Alan Winde 

The brand has always maintained a high profile at the event and the past three years their stand had won a gold award at the Expo, but next year they will “give runners a fantastic consumer experience,” says Krawinkel.

Adidas’ Adrian de Souza, marketing director Gavin Cowley and Warren Bowers

The Two Oceans is the world’s most beautiful marathon in the world, he adds, and adidas is therefore proud to “welcome the event to our prestigious family of marathons that includes the Beijing, Berlin, Boston and London Marathons.”

Citizen sportswriter Rod Knight, adidas communicators Zobuzwe Ngobese, Adele Kruger (from Ogilvy) and Michelle Dobson