Bubble relief from Isolation!
As reported last month Victoria was battling back from a recent Covid spike. Happily the daily new case rate is back under 5 and hit zero for the first time in over 3 months.
So now the outlook is very likely that Victoria can join its neighbouring states and New Zealand in freedom of movement bubbles in the lead up to Christmas.
So the proof is there that Covid can be contained provided that we all respect the guidance provided by medical authorities and stay the course no matter how inconvenient. The simple rules for us being; good hygiene, wear a mask and avoid unnecessary close contacts. And if case numbers start growing, be prepared to fully cooperate with requests related to contact tracing and get tested and self isolate if exhibiting symptoms or hearing of your close contact with someone.
Brittany completes the Heysen Trail in ArmaSkin.
After 50 days, Brittany has solo thru-hiked South Australia's 1200km, HeysonTrail.
Brittany: "It’s been a wild ride, but finished yesterday after a hectic all-nighter of 56k’s to make it in time for the bus in the morning. Would 10/10 do it all again (maybe more in the ultralight fashion next time lmao) but nevertheless, despite the bruised hips and deformed, gnarled feet every step was worth it (even when I was stacking it down monster hills that had you following the ‘fence’).
Thanks so much to everyone who helped me out along the way for all the trail magic I received and just in general all the pals made, had the best time and am a lil devo it’s over but that’s ok "
Brittany used a combination of our new ArmaSkin toe-socks and our standard liner socks. While her body and feet were challenged by the average 24km/day pace the blister count was minimal. "I absolutely loved them. I think the ones without toes are better - only because in the morning it can be difficult to get them (toe-socks) on if it's super cold."
The lead photo for this news uses one of Brittany's amazing pics. You can see more visuals on her Instagram video
Well done Brittany!
Frank does some blue sky thinking!
From the peaks of Cuyamaca in SanDiego Frank cuts an imposing figure on the clear blue skies. Wearing his ArmaSkin for good measure and happy feet!
Hey bloggers and posters!
If like us you are looking to build your on-line presence we'd be pleased to hear from you on ways that we could collaborate, be it in direct promotions or idea sharing about social media.
And, if you are an ArmaSkin fan and have a gmail address, it'd be great if you would add a short review on Google for us. Here's a link. Just a few kind words goes a long way to promoting our Brand and will be greatly appreciated!
Oxfam Trailwalker goes virtual in 2020
Walk 100km or 50km in your neighbourhood this November and help tackle poverty.
Choose to go solo, or participate as a team of four, inviting your friends to join you for the fun.
Join the virtual journey that changes lives forever – including yours.
HOW IT WORKS
Sign up (for FREE) and challenge yourself and up to 3 others to walk 100km or 50km this November.
Your trail, your way: Hit the bush trails, along the beach or around the neighbourhood – walk anywhere, anytime during November to rack up your kms.
Fight poverty: Tell everyone that you're tackling poverty feet first and ask them to support you. Your efforts will help end world poverty, funding Oxfam projects across the globe.
Here's a link for more information
And if you do register, remember that ArmaSkin is there to support your efforts. Once you've registered your Team email ian@armaskin with your Team name and we'll send you a promo code for you to purchase discounted ArmaSkin.
Wild Feature Molly and Zach
Last year we followed Molly and Zach on their epic thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. 4,260km in 6 months, hiking through some of the rawest terrain and conditions is a story worth sharing!
Australia's WILD Magazine in its 177th Edition features Zacc's writings from their amazing journey.
From the very beginning Molly suffered from severely swollen feet. But with a strong will and the help of ArmaSkin and new boots, two sizes up from her original pair, she was able to complete this most challenging hike.
Available only in hard copy from WILD.
Are we winning the battle against blisters?
Considering that blisters are a regular occurrence for hikers and endurance sports people there has been a lot of effort and learning about preventing blisters. So we wondered if there is any evidence that all of this new wisdom may be resulting in the driving down of the prevalence of blisters.
Well, here's a simple set of data that could show that we have in fact "knocked the socks" off blisters.
Google Ngram is a search engine that charts word frequencies from a large corpus of books that were printed between 1500 and 2019. The tool generates charts by dividing the number of a word's yearly appearances by the total number of words in the corpus in that year. So in simple terms you can trace the interest in a particular topic over time by linking it to it's frequency of mentions in published books.
So just for fun we plotted the activities over the last 100 years: hiking and endurance running (comprising marathon, half marathon, triathlon, ultramarathon, trail running), against blisters (noting that we couldn't isolate foot blisters), and a couple of sock solutions; liner socks and toe socks (which is a bit muddled by toe socks as a novel fashion item in the 70's).
This very raw data is food for thought. It indicates the rises of interest in hiking and more recently endurance running, yet seems to indicate only a slight correlating impact on an interest in blisters.
Sarah Mauer: Miss Adventure Pants, hiking fitness.
If you'd like some professional help to develop your own hiking training program, you'd do well to check out Sarah Mauer's Create a Fail-Proof Training Plan for Your Next Adventure. Sarah's been a friend of ArmaSkin for many years, so check her out, she is one dedicated hiker with heaps of experience!
Don't miss out on your ArmaSkin Christmas delivery!
Some local delivery times are improving, particularly in Australia, but it is very likely that overseas deliveries may become slower as pandemic conditions in many countries remain worrying.
Adding onto that is that we are only 8 weeks away from Christmas!!!!!
NOW is the time to order to be sure that you can have your ArmaSkin gift in hand for your best friend! Use code OctNews for your 20% liner sock discount in October.
ArmaSkin Masks Update.
Supported by the mandatory wearing of masks, there has been a drastic reduction in Covid cases in Victoria... Happily that has meant demand for our masks has been dropping. There have also been loads of very cheap masks made available to the marketplace. Consequently we have eliminated the Custom model from our range but are for the time being maintaining the more technically sophisticated Pro Tech Mask and the Consumer Tech Mask, both of which provide high protection by using the ArmaSkin merino silicone material.
A couple of interesting pointers especially for our US and European friends who may be looking for a sturdy reusable mask as Winter rolls in. The ArmaSkin Merino masks will keep your face warm and the strap on the ProTech masks will help you avoid inadvertent loss of the mask when you are hiking and tempted to ease the mask away from the face. Using the loop design masks some folks un hook one ear, and before long have inadvertently lost their mask on the trail. Not great to be adding mask litter to country trails. TheProTech mask has a very secure Velcro strap and the mask can be easily slipped down around the neck when safe to do so.
More details on ArmaSkin masks can be found on www.armaskin.com
FREE FOR THE AVID HIKER
If you would like to get a regular dose of free interesting articles for hikers you can subscribe to our FREE on-line ArmaSkin Hiking Magazine.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LATEST EDITION
AND if you are a blogger or have an interest in reaching this community, we might very well include your material in our Magazine for free. Just email ian@armaskin.com to discuss.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIN WIN WIN WIN
MONTHLY opportunity to win FREE ArmaSkin - please share your picture stories with us.
Stories from you, the happy wearers of ArmaSkin, are our most powerful learning and marketing tool. We thus encourage you to tell us about your experiences and adventures with ArmaSkin.
For your chance to win your choice of a pair of ArmaSkin liner socks simply email : sales@armaskin.com a picture of you on the go using an ArmaSkin product together with a short comment about the picture. Or you can #ArmaSkin in a social media post that could come to our attention.
If the picture is featured in a 2020 edition of ArmaSkin News the monthly prize is yours.
This month's prize goes to Frank for his super blue pic!
________________________________________
ARMASKIN IS AUSTRALIA'S OWN TOP SELLING, LOCALLY MADE, ANTI-BLISTER LINERSOCK.
SPECIAL OCTOBER DISCOUNT: 20% OFF ON YOUR LINER SOCK PURCHASE BEFORE THE END OF OCTOBER 2020. JUST USE CODE OCTNEWS.
