1998-99 Marker MRR EPS3 Race Binding

A short 13 years since it's production, the technology of the Marker MRR Race Binding seems to all but have disappeared in today's models. The only elements that seem visable today belong to the toe piece, an element which ran the course of the Marker line in 1998.

The MRR heel had a big year in 2000-01 with 3 models available: MRR Turbo SC Racing, the MRR EPS3 Racing and the MRR EPS Racing (all models shared the same toe and heel, performance features being the difference). It would live on to see the 2001-02 season in the form of the MRR Turbo SC Racing ($395), but would be removed from the line the next year. Piston Control would be the next innovation from Marker, followed by the release of the Duke in 2008. Currently, the Royal family of bindings (including the Duke, Baron, Jester and Squire) are argueably the meat of Marker's line.

During the late 80's, the MRR turntable heel with "wedge" toe was the pinncale of bindings for "freeskiers" everywhere. In the early 1990's Marker changed the toe piece to account for a safety concern with the backward twisting fall. Many rippers had concerns over this new possibility of upward release and lost confidence in the Marker line. Some skiers even mounted the new MRR heel with the toe pieces from previous years. (On a side note, the Selective Control system was introduced shortly therafter, enough said.)

During the turbulant 90s Marker introduced the step-in turntable MRR. Although more convenient for getting into the binding, it was not a feature that would win over the majority of full-time skiers.

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