If you watch Boston or any of the coverage Monday, then you know that Puma had a big day! This isn’t the first marathon major where they made a showing.
Another successful Project3 is in the history books for Puma, and it happened on a historic marathon course. 95 sub-elite runners at Monday’s 130th annual Boston Marathon finished the famed marathon course, with 37 of them setting new personal bests.
Puma’s Project3 is an innovative and engaging event put together to help runners achieve new personal bests. Participants are given access to elite coaching and SHOWTIME products, such as the Fast-R NITRO Elite 3 and Deviate NITRO Elite 4.
In order to qualify runners must have a valid Boston or London 2026 Marathon entry and a verified personal best time of 3:00 or better for men, and 3:15 for women.
In total, 1 hour, 11 minutes and 26 seconds were cut from the participants’ previous best times at Monday’s Boston Marathon. 18 of the 37 runners who set new records shaved more than 3 minutes from their personal best and will receive a $3,000 cash prize from Puma.
Making their debuts as part of Project3 were Puma’s bright neon SHOWTIME race kits with matching Fast-R NITRO Elite 3 and Deviate NITRO Elite 4 supershoes.
Nitro Elite 3
- Weight: 6.0 oz. Men’s, 5.2 oz. Women’s
- Stack Height: 40 mm
- Heel drop: 8mm
- Available in two colorways
- Not available in wide.
- Available on puma.com for $300
Nitro Elite 4
- Weight: 6.5 oz Men’s, 5 oz Women’s
- Stack Height: 40 mm
- Heel Drop: 8 mm
- 3 Colors
- Not available in wide
- Available on puma.com for $260
Madey Dickson of Salt Lake City was the top finisher in the division of Women’s participants, finishing with a time of 2:28:12, or 43 seconds faster than her previous best.
Kristoffer Mugrage of Arlington, WA took first place in the Men’s division of Project3 participants with a time of 2:13:33, and an improvement of 1 minute and 28 seconds. While neither Mugrage or Dickson beat their previous best by 3 or more minutes, they’ll pocket the $3,000 cash prize for their Project3 first place finishes.
Perhaps the biggest and most impressive SHOWTIME-worthy performance amongst the Puma Project3 participants came from Malik Mahmud. Mahmud massively improved on his previous marathon best by 13 minutes and 10 seconds, crossing the finish line with a chip time of 2:28:04. And for his efforts Mahmud takes home $6,000; $3,000 for his improvement and another $3,000 for achieving the biggest overall improvement.
In the Women’s elite field, Puma’s runners also came up big on the day. Annie Frisbee of Wisconsin took an 8th place finish with a time of 2:22, improving by 2 minutes and 12 seconds. Dakota Popehn was not far behind, finishing in 2 hours, 24 minutes and 4 seconds. Popehn improved her marathon PR by 16 seconds.
Two men from Puma’s elite roster also set new personal bests in their SHOWTIME kits.
Canada’s Rory Linkletter finished 14th place in the men’s field with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 4 seconds, beating his previous best by 45 seconds. German long distance runner Hendrick Pfeiffer shaved 11 seconds from his personal best, finishing 30 seconds behind Linkletter with a time of 2:06:34.
Puma’s next Project3 will take place at the London Marathon next Sunday, April 26th. A record 176 athletes are expected to take part in this groundbreaking event. And it is only fitting that Project3 is setting a participation record during a marathon that is expected to be the biggest ever, with a reported 59,000 runners.
Read our full review of the Puma Fast-R NITRO Elite 3 here.
Read our full review of the Puma Deviate NITRO Elite 4 here.
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