TBB's Macel Blows Out the Competition in Canada

We knew in advance that we had the potential for a shoot-out in the women’s race at Ironman Canada this year. Canadian Tereza Macel started the fireworks early with a 51:11 swim, 1:55 ahead of Kat Baker and 2:08 ahead of her chief rival, Belinda Granger. She stated the “swim was lonely…I had no feet to swim off of for the entire swim.”

It really didn’t matter as Macel was just getting warmed up for the fight on the bike course where she knew the real action would take place. By the time she hit the top of Richter Pass at 65 kilometres, the Toronto, Ontario resident had put Granger, who was now in second, 6:22 down as she crested the infamous climb. The remainder of the top-ten women that included Tara Norton, Sara Gross, Kat Baker were scattered about the course, and up to 15:00 in arrears to the hard charging Macel.

Macel, now heading towards the rollers and the out and back at Keremeos facing brutal head winds and heat, turned on the after-burners and started to inflict additional damage on the field. When Macel went over top of the last roller at 100 kilometres, she had blown the race apart and extended her lead over Granger (11:30,) Norton (17:29,) Baker (20:50) and Gross (24:30.)

When Macel hit the run, it was her race to lose with a 15:39 advantage over the 2008 Subaru Ironman Canada champion, Granger, and over 22 minutes on Norton.

Macel put it on cruise control and pounded out the fastest run of the day (3:17:53), winning by a comfortable 29:39 margin over Granger.

Macel displayed her dominance over the remainder of the field here in Penticton as she won her second Ironman in five weeks and her third Ironman title. She did so by having the fastest swim, bike and run splits on the day.

“I always wanted to do this race, and now I wonder why I waited so long,” Macel said. She went on, “the crowds were so great and supportive, I was able to really enjoy it on the run.”

At the end of the day, Macel stood alone, and above the women’s field here in Penticton

IM Louisville

A Weekend of Racing .

IM Louisville saw Luke McKenzie lead for most of the race , Only to get run down in the closing stages of the marathon. McKenzie has taken two IM titles this year (Maylasia and Japan) already and came up with a 2nd only 34 sec's down on Viktor Zyemtsev here in Louisville.
Mckenzie has had a stellar season to date and will be looking to peak at Kona in six weeks time.

On the womens side it was a blueseventy affair, Nina Kraft exited the water in first and traded the lead through the early stages of the bike with Maki Nishiuchi (TBB). Kraft pulled away, but was later overtaken by Lisbeth Kristensen. Kristensen continued to open up a gap on the German and started the 26.2-mile run nearly nine minutes ahead of Kraft. Kristensen was caught by Kraft around mile 18, at which point Kraft opened up a gap of almost four minutes on last year's third place finisher here in Louisville. American, Kim Loeffler, ran her way into third thanks to her 3:05 marathon-best-split.

So it was blueseventy one, two and three on the womens side.

The U.k's hardest triathlon?

So we may have found the hardest triathlon in Britain. No, not a short Iron-distance trip around Bolton, but more a trip around the U.K in a triathlon that measures pretty incredible statistics of a challenge.
Who would undertake a channel swim (22 miles, blueseventy Helix assisted) Lands end to John-o-Groats cycling 874 miles and then run across the U.K coast to coast 166 miles (nuun hydration assisted)?
Well, his name is Simon Moore from Derby (U.K's centre for culture and art) and his endeavor began Saturday 22nd August. The first leg took Simon 15 hours (a little longer than he hoped) and now he has began the classic Lands End to John-o Groats ride. Keeping watching this space and we will keep you updated, but you can also visit his twitter at www.twitter.com/achievemoore, SImon is pictured above at the start of his epic swim, pictured with Commonwealth games swimmer champion Ross Davenport and Derby County director and playing staff along with Simon's Children who will be following his epic trip in a camper (RV) van. GOOD LUCK SIMON FROM US ALL.

Luke Mckenzie Wins again

Luke Mckenzie seems to be un-beatable this year, He's a traveling nomad and while that doesn't work for most , he and his partner Amanda have found what makes them tick .

Below Luke Reports on his most recent win.






















WIN NUMBER 5 for 2009 - HULAMAN HALF IRONMAN

What an awesome race! Yesterday I raced the Hulaman Half Iron triathlon in Forest Grove west of Portland. Coming off a big few weeks of Ironman Hawaii training I didn't know how my body was going to feel and I was nervous doing a race with no easing up leading into it. To top it off a very solid pro field assembled for the race including recent Ironman Lake Placid Champion Maiki Twelsiek and Ironman Canada Champion Kieran Doe just to name a few.

We camped out at the swim start and literally woke up 10 meters from transition. At 6am the temperature was still under 10 degrees C and I was not looking forward to a cold race. Luckily as the sun rose over the mountains it warmed up a little. I had a bad swim for me, mostly due to the fact that after about 200 meters I felt like I was over-heating in my wetsuit . I lost Kierans feet and struggled for 100-150 meters to swim properly. I have never had that feeling before and I hated it! I am sure it's nothing we can't fix with my awesome wetsuit sponsor blueseventy.

I got out of the water 1 minute down on Kieran and set off onto the bike after him. The first 20 miles of the race was around Hagg Lake and it was very tough with lots of power climbs but still pretty cold. I felt like I couldn't warm up and get into a good rhythm. Every time check I heard to Kieran for those 20 miles was 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes ... I was thinking "Oh no he is going to be 10 minutes ahead off the bike."

Maik Twelsiek caught me at about 25 km into the ride and I worked hard to keep him in sight. We descended down from the Lake and into the rolling farmland and I finally found my riding legs. Maiki pushed hard and he strung me out to 100-200 meters at times but I fought to keep him in sight if I wanted any chance of winning. We arrived at T2 having made up about 1 minuted in the final 20km on Kieran but still 2 minutes back.

Onto the run I got a small gap on Maiki out of transition but he soon joined me and we ran shoulder to shoulder till 3 miles where we caught Kieran. I was able to get a 10 meter gap on Maiki just as we passed Kieran and I thought I might have "broken" him. Maiki ran within 100 meters of me till mile 10 at which point I realized I need to put in a big effort to "shake" him and not give him the chance to sprint for the finish. I ran a really good half marathon (mostly due to Maiki pushing me) and was happy with a new personal best of 1.14.19. My over all time was 3.45.02 which set a new course record and was one of my fastest ever Half Ironman times. I was really happy to put together a solid race off the back of some really hard Ironman training.

I have to thank Gary and Chris for having us at the Hulaman race. What an awesome event! For those that haven't been, think Wildflower crossed with Vineman! Great course, challenging but most of all really great people! Thanks!

Hulaman - Individual 1/2 Iron - Pro
Bib Name City, State Age Gen Finish AG FO
14 Luke McKenzie Noosa 28 M 03:45:02.9 1 1
18 Maik Twelsiek Lemgo, Nrw 29 M 03:46:39.8 2 2
16 Brandon Marsh Austin, TX 35 M 03:53:50.5 3 3
7 Kieran Doe Auckland 28 M 03:57:08.4 4 4

Brownlee takes four from four

The unstoppable Alistair Brownlee again showed he is the real deal taking his fourth Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series win (Thats makes four from four amnd counting) . The 21- year old raced in front of a home crowd in London , England yesterday. The young Brit was at the front over the entire 2012 Olympic venue, cruising home in front of an ecstatic home crowd in a time of 1 hour 41 minutes and 50 seconds.
The young blueseventy star couldn't quite believe it, "I never expected at the start of the season to get a win in Madrid, Washington or Kitzbühel or here,” said Brownlee. “I’ve had a lot of luck on my side, but you’ve got to make the most of it and I think I have. It’s been a great run of results and I hope it continues.” His results speak for themselves , This young man will be very hard to beat in the season finale in Australia.

Big Results for Team blueseventy in Open Water

Clear skies and beautiful Lake Tahoe hosted the annual Trans Tahoe Relay race this year. The Olympic Club has hosted the event since 1976. Originally the race consisted of 2 teams from the bay area going head to head for the win. The modern relay format adopted by the Olympic Club is an 11.5 mile swim where 6 man teams compete against each other. Each member swims a 30 minute first leg followed by additional 15, 10, and 5 minute legs if needed until the course is completed.

This year the lake conditions were perfect for racing. Team blueseventy, shown above, had an impressive performance finishing second in the team division. Congrats to Team blueseventy!

Be sure and check out www.activereno.com for footage from the Trans Tahoe Relay and the Donner Lake Swim!

Mike Ross - Racking up the Records at USMS Long Course Nationals

Mike Ross took a few minutes to talk with us about the awesome season he is having so far and the records he is smashing here in Indianapolis.



Congrats on some great swims Mike!

United States Master's Nationals with Champion Nancy Steadman Martin

This week Indianapolis, Indiana is playing host to the 2009 USMS Masters National Championships. Just 4 weeks after world records were broken at the storied 'Nat' by the likes of Aaron Piersol and Michael Phelps, athletes from across the nation of all ages have come together to compete in events ranging from the 50 backstroke to the 400 meter IM.

In this clip, 2009 4 time champion and current World Record holder in the Women's 200 meter backstroke in her age group, Nancy Steadman Martin tells us about how she and her friends on the Mighty Mermaid Team share their 'lucky' bluseventy suit across the nation.



Congratulations Nancy and best wishes to all the Mighty Mermaids!

blueseventy wins at steelhead 70.3

blueseventys Andy Potts and Sam Warriner were top of the podium at 70.3 Steelhead this weekend

Andy was at the front during the swim, only to be passed by super biker Andrew Starykowicz . Potts overcame a 5 min deficit heading out onto the run to win here in steel-head.

Results below


Male
1 POTTS, ANDY 2/2/1 33/M-PRO 00:22:13 02:13:02 01:16:14 03:54:38
2 STARYKOWICZ, ANDREW 6/1/2 27/M-PRO 00:23:35 02:05:45 01:24:37 03:56:44
3 DOE, KIERAN 3/3/3 28/M-PRO 00:22:18 02:12:53 01:21:51 03:59:31
4 REMALY, GREG 5/4/4 29/M-PRO 00:23:17 02:12:55 01:20:56 04:00:04
5 BECHTEL, SEAN 4/9/5 26/M-PRO 00:23:14 02:18:05 01:19:35 04:03:46
Out of water
1.John Kenny 21.48
2.Andy Potts 22.13
3.Kieran Doe 22.18

















The womens race was an all blueseventy affair, with Leanda cave leading from the water, In close pursuit was Sam Warriner (2008 ITU world series champion) . Samm soon took control of the race and went away for another win over the 70.3 distance. cave held obn for second and
rounded out the 3rd spot was another blueseventy athlete in form of Nina Kraft


blueseventy

















Sam's Words on the race

"I had a good swim exiting just 35 seconds after Leanda
Cave, a known swimmer. I then got on the bike and within 10km I was in in
the lead. That was a surprise because I expected to be chasing down the
leader but did not expect it to come so quick.
I even caught some Pro Men which made me even more
pleased as they'd started their swim 3 minutes ahead of us!?
I got to
transition 2, four and half minutes in front of second place. I did
not know this at the time, so just focused on running as hard as I could.
It was a tough course due to the wind and also it always felt you were
going uphill. I ran strong but struggled in the last 3 miles. But
by that time I finished I had over a seven minute lead so it was just a
case of holding on.
It was the best birthday present ever"

Female
1 WARRINER, SAMANTHA 2/1/1 38/F-PRO 00:25:13 02:22:57 01:27:00 04:17:57
2 CAVE, LEANDA 1/2/2 31/F-PRO 00:24:22 02:28:29 01:29:30 04:25:12
3 KRAFT, NINA 3/5/3 41/F-PRO 00:25:20 02:30:37 01:27:16 04:26:22
4 WILLIAMSON, KELLY 5/9/4 32/F-PRO 00:25:31 02:35:44 01:22:43 04:27:10
5 LOVATO, AMANDA 6/4/5 37/F-PRO 00:28:17 02:27:10 01:28:52 04:27:57
Out of water
1.Leander Cave 24.22
2. Sam Warriner 25.13
3. Nina Craft 25.20

First images from Maarten Shoot.

Our recent photo shoot with Olympic Champion Maarten Van Der Weijden produced some fantastic images. The location: Dorney Lake in Eton, where the inaugural Blueseventy open water swim was held. So successful was the event that a second will be held in September 12th. Distances of 1 mile and 3km will be open for all go to www.humanrace.co.uk.

Remember, for the latest open water news go to www.thewaterisopen.com where open water "Guru" Steve Munatones will be giving an insight into the world of swimming open water.

$10,000 worth of suits stolen from Rome.

Warning to all athletes, especially those in ROME. blueseventy were unfortunate to have their booth from the "Suits for all in the name of a level playing field" zone, within the warm up area of the World Championships in ROMA broken in to. Suits , Nero back packs and limited edition T-shirts were taken. Please be aware prosecution will be swift and sharp we have been informed by the Italian Police authorities, so if you are offered these exclusive pink and grey suits in Rome, please turn them down.

You could say we are victims of our own generosity. FINA asked ALL brands wishing to have their suits approved after the scientific testing to have at least 400 suits available to all at the event. Blueseventy being as we are decided more than 400 was needed, and thus 700 were taken to the hot & sweaty basement where the giving away of suits was managed under guard and view of the events security team. There is not doubt blueseventy gave away more suits than any other brand, in fact some brands did not even turn up till the day of competition and then with enough to kit out only a handful of swimmers. So we gave away suits to swimmers of all nations and abilities, we manned our booth the longest hours and never discriminated between swimmers and left ourselves with spares for those mis-haps and accidents. What do we get in return? This act of incredible selfishness.

Annoyed? Yes, tainted our World Champs? Yes, in a way it has, we committed to this championships and we leave with a ruling that aids no one, such is the crazy short timeline and a loss that just makes the trip and our generosity a little less "Good Feeling"

Thanks

Dean Jackson

Nero Legal to 2010

Our interpretation of FINA's rules is that all the currently approved suits will be available through till the end of the 2009 year. The latest releases from FINA, one stating that the suits would remain legal until April or May, and the most recent statement that says they will be legal till Jan 2010, confirm that at the suits are still going to be used through till this date for any competition following FINA rules. ALL available models of the nero comp suit will be legal through to this date.

Darian Townsend speaks from Roma.

blueseventy ambassador and elite swimmer "Darian Townsend" talks of Rome, suits and the future and calls for the athletes voice to be heard.