Category: Humans of HOKA

HOKA ambassador Kilian dreams big and conquers Kona

HOKA ambassador Kilian Limmer cries on the shoulder of family after qualifying for IRONMAN Kona

Kilian Limmer achieved his dream and conquered IRONMAN Kona last month. But his journey hasn’t been without its setbacks. Read Kilian’s story below and find out why he proves that anything in life is possible if you dream big.

Saturday 23 June 2007. This day changed my life forever.

I am the guy in the middle of the front row in the image below. As you can see, my left eye is closed. What you can’t see is that my left orbital floor – or eye socket – is fractured and that I suffered a traumatic brain injury and concussion while playing football. I was hit by the elbow of an opponent.

After this accident, I wasn’t allowed to move my head too quickly. I was in the hospital for one week and had to use a wheelchair for the next two weeks. At home, I couldn’t read anything or watch TV because it was too exhausting for my eye and my brain. I wasn’t allowed to do any kind of sport for the next four months.

HOKA ambassador Kilian Limmer in his earlier football days

Dreaming big

I started to gain a lot of weight. As a motivation to start running and to lose weight again, I decided to register for the local 10k race in my hometown at the end of September 2009. I did about five training runs before the race and finished in a time of 54 minutes. Not so bad.

One month later, I watched IRONMAN Hawaii for the first time. I thought that the efforts of all the athletes were unreal and that this race was unattainable for me. But I started to dream of it. The race was in my head almost every day. No joke. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I registered for my first triathlon race in June 2011.

I watched IRONMAN Hawaii for the first time. I thought that the efforts of all the athletes were unreal and that this race was unattainable for me. But I started to dream of it. Kilian Limmer

But by the end of 2010, I learned that I had a congenital heart defect and needed to undergo heart surgery. My heart rate was going crazy high, up to 230 beats-per-minute, and not even during training, but during my lunch or homework. I had surgery in April 2011 and received the all-clear from the doctors to start training for my first triathlon race three months later.

Road to recovery

I finished third in my age category in my first triathlon. That was cool! It certainly gave me the motivation to carry on. I loved this feeling of suffering and getting rewarded for it. I did my first Olympic-distance race in 2012 and my first middle-distance race to next year. This was when I decided to stop playing football and to concentrate on triathlon.

I increased my training and gave it more structure. I was lucky to become a HOKA Flyer at the end of 2016, which was an extra boost as I felt a bit more professional. My journey with HOKA began and I am so thankful for that.

HOKA ambassador Kilian Limmer training

My next goal was to go ‘all-in’ for the Kona slot and so I registered for IRONMAN Austria 2017. The preparation went really well and I was feeling fit like never before. The race was good, I had good legs and the run of my life ,with a time of 3 hours and 9 minutes for the marathon. But that wasn’t enough. I finished second and missed the slot by about six minutes.

But the fire was still burning.

Completing the journey

I registered again the following year and this time, came out on top. I took the lead on the run with still 21 kilometres to go and pain in my entire body. I didn’t know if there was still a guy behind me. I focused on the nutrition and the technique and finally reached the finish line with the Kona slot in my pocket.

Hoka ambassador Kilian Limmer crosses the line first at 2018 IRONMAN Austria

I was so overwhelmed by my emotions. I was sitting in the finish area and cried for about 15 minutes. My parents and friends were waiting for me and I was so happy to give them something back.

“Kona was really just the icing on the cake. I wanted to feel the mystery of the island. Because Kona was the place where the sport was born – and where my journey started. Kilian Limmer

After one month of recovery, I started training for the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. Training went really well. My goals were to finish the race in under 10 hours and to run the whole marathon without walking. I achieved both of these goals.

But the race was really just the icing on the cake. I wanted to feel the mystery of the island. Because Kona was the place where the sport was born – and where my journey started.

Kilian finished 15th in the 18-24 age category in Kona. Kilian raced in the HOKA Hupana Slip and is already looking forward to returning to the island and racing faster in 2019. Follow Kilian on Instagram.

The masterminds behind the Fly Collection

HOKA Fly Collection campaign creative silhouette

In February 2018, we introduced the Fly Collection — an entirely new collection that looks different than anything we’ve done before, but has the same feel you know and love. So, where did this idea come from?

“Creating shoes is almost like a sport. You can always get better. You have to be able to adapt and change your strategy. You’re trying to solve a problem and it’s just that idea of ‘it’s never done,’” says Gretchen Weimer, one of the creators of the Fly Collection. As the vice president of product at HOKA and with over 25 years of experience in the footwear industry, Gretchen helped create the brand’s revolutionary collection. She describes herself as single-minded and competitive, two qualities that have pushed her to where she is today.

Beating the competition

Hailing from Buffalo, NY, Gretchen ran cross country in high school. “I went to an all girls’ school and they had just started a cross country team. But we didn’t have anyone to train with,” Gretchen says. “Our partner school was all boys’, so we’d have training days with the boys’ team and we all competed in the same races. That was really wild.”

“I remember running in a race and encouraging one of the boys from the other school I was competing against. I was encouraging him and I was beating him. He was so pissed off,” Gretchen says, laughing, “I knew I could beat him. I’m super competitive. I was like, ‘I’ll be nice to you, but I’m gonna beat you.’”

“Creating shoes is almost like a sport. You can always get better. You have to be able to adapt and change your strategy. You’re trying to solve a problem and it’s just that idea of ‘it’s never done’.” Gretchen Weimer

After a year or two of cross country, Gretchen found her true passion, rowing, and she worked hard to became a world-class single sculler. Single scullers race individually rather than with a team. After making it through the Olympic Trials, she was in the Olympic Selection Camp before eventually being cut.

Climbing the career ladder

During her training for the Olympic Trials, Gretchen worked for a financial services company in a specialty program designed for athlete job opportunities. “When I didn’t make it to the Olympics, they offered me a job in their broker training program. And I was like, ‘Hell, no,’” Gretchen says, “I’d spent the last ten years of my life in a wet T-shirt and shorts. If you can’t see yourself doing something, it’s probably never gonna happen.”

Gretchen tracked down a sales rep and edged her way into a job as a technical sales rep before moving into a sales position, then becoming a product line sales manager, then finally landing as an account executive. “As an account executive, I was managing the outdoor and women’s lifestyle footwear for a retailer. And that was my first taste of creating product. It was me, the buyer, the designer and the developers all working together to take the stories from the marketing team and give it to them in a different package,” Gretchen says.

Shoe rack full of HOKA shoes new and old

Later, she managed small-scale women’s casual footwear brands and men’s and women’s performance outdoor brands. I ask how she’s stayed interested in such a specific topic for her entire career. “Being an athlete was my life for so long. And working around other athletes and being in a competitive environment just made me feel like, ‘Oh. These are my people,’” Gretchen says.

Turning ideas into reality

Joining the HOKA team in early 2016, Gretchen and her team had a vision for the Fly Collection. “It’s never one person doing all of it. I have a team, a really talented team. And we’re always working to tap into other people’s experiences and try and create something from all the parts that we have,” she says.

“With HOKA, the idea for the brand came from this fundamental concept of geometry and foam and how the two interact. And we’re trying things like how we can make someone go faster by tweaking the geometry. Or make them more comfortable by tweaking the foam. It’s finding what the levers are and how you can use them to tune the product,” Gretchen says.

“It’s never one person doing all of it. I have a team, a really talented team. And we’re always working to tap into other people’s experiences and try and create something from all the parts that we have.” Gretchen Weimer

Basically, creating product is problem solving. It’s taking different pieces of information and data and then combining them to create a shoe. Then, working with the designers to make those innovative ideas into a reality. Pushing limits is where Gretchen thrives and she was able to channel that into the Fly Collection. “We kept wondering, was it too much of a leap? Or just enough to make people uncomfortable?” Gretchen says.

The idea for the Fly Collection started with two shoes that were very successful, the Clayton and the Vanquish, but they didn’t fit within the other long-lasting legacies of the brand. Names like Bondi and Clifton are almost synonymous with HOKA. “We took two shoes and amplified them by talking about them in a different way. They represented something and we put them in the Fly Collection to tell a story about why and what they represent,” Gretchen says.

Prototype versions of HOKA Fly Collection

As part of HOKA’s DNA, flight seemed like a perfect way to tie everything together. After all, when translated, the brand name loosely means “to fly over the earth” in Maori. “We went after this notion of flight and created a story around it. And added another shoe to round it all out — everything is better in threes,” Gretchen says. So, they created the Mach using the DNA of the Clayton, the Elevon from the Vanquish and then added the Cavu for a full set.

Looking into the future

The result of all this? Three shoes that are incredibly lightweight and still offer the signature cushioning HOKA is known for. And this revolutionary collection is just the beginning of a new wave for the brand. Not to give away too many secrets, but they’re currently hard at work to create another new collection — this time with hiking.

“HOKA was born on the mountain and then we moved to the road and in some cases the track. Now, we’re going back up the mountain,” Gretchen says. “Especially since there’s a bridge from trail running, to vertical running, to hiking and fast hiking. We’re trying to take it in a natural way to the mountain.”

We’re constantly finding ways to make improvements and think outside the box to define what’s possible in a running shoe. Our brand was born out of innovation and we’re still continuing to do that today — with Gretchen and her team at the forefront.

Check out the Fly Collection today.