Men in High Heels?

Several weeks ago, I got to work an event like no other in downtown Greenville. The event was called the Ecy~Shoes N' Chic Men's High Heel Race. NYC and other big cities do high heel races, so why not have one in SC? You may remember the shoe fashion show I worked in March for Ecy~Shoes N' Chic, who is one of our clients at TK PR. The 1st Annual "Run a Mile in Her Shoes" Men's High Heel Race was another awesome event my boss planned that was a success.

I wasn't so sure how this event would turn out. I knew it would be great, I just wasn't sure how many men would actually want to participate. I've heard of high heel races in big cities, but we are the first ones to ever do a men's high heel race. Who would have thought Greenville, SC would be the first to do something like this? We may be the only ones to ever do it, but who knows? Maybe it will take off and we will see them spread to other cities.

One of the main goals PR professionals strive for is to get people talking. In this case, they may not have actually been talking about the client, but people were talking about the event itself because it was so unique. Ecy~Shoes N' Chic teamed up with American Diabetes Association since the race dealt with feet and diabetics often have feet complications. Most of the registration fee went to the ADA ($15 out of the $16.25 fee). It's important to team up with a cause when planning something like this because you need to have  reason why participants are running. Since the race was downtown, Soby's decided to donate free brunch vouchers to all the participants. So for $16.25 you got a free brunch, a t-shirt, donated money to a good cause and also got to be a part of the one-of-a-kind race.

We had 47 men race. While that may not seem like a lot, you wouldn't believe the amount of news coverage the race got. We were on every news station the day of the race and the morning after. People loved hearing about this. Here is a sample of the coverage we got.

The men that raced were so into their heels. I know that sounds weird, but it was hilarious. Most of them were extremely ugly heels because let's be honest, you might not be able to find pretty shoes in sizes 12 and up. I don't think the men really cared. Some of them even came with skirts or kilts on over their running attire. Here are a few shots from the day.

Pedal Chic offered to donate $50 to the ADA if someone was willing to wear this pink skirt. We had way too many guys ready and willing. 

Waiting at the finish line. 

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. 

The race was only .1 mile. It wasn't long at all, but I was shocked at how fast these guys ran. However, some of them may have cheated a little by duck taping their shoes to their feet :) Now they have a taste of what women go through all the time.