2009 Tiburon Mile

The 10th annual prestigious Tiburon Mile took place on Sunday, Sept 13th in Tiburon, California. After participating in the Waikiki Roughwater just a week earlier, Roque Santos made it out to Tiburon to support the athletes participating on behalf of blueseventy, and to compete himself. Check out Roque's play by play below:

"blueseventy is a key supporter of the RCP Tiburon Mile and the Special Olympics and we were happy to provide caps to all participants and Neros to some of the Special Olympics athletes. The Tiburon Mile has the largest pot of cash prizes in the US for open water totalling at $30,000 and over $775,000 has been raised for the Special Olympics and other local charities!

The beach was wide open and the water calm when I got to the race Sunday morning. I like to be one of the first guys there - especially when I'm setting up the blueseventy booth. Unlike triathlon where athletes arrive days in advance, open water swimmers show up race day ready to go so it's important for us to be there early with some of those last minute key items like goggles, swimskins, and wetsuits.
As the sun started to shine above, there was still a hazy cloud cover over the San Francisco Bay. It didn't exactly look inviting. My mind started to wander, and like most swimmers I started to second guess my decision to get in and swim. But, at the last minute my brother David, who is a Tiburon Mile veteran, convinced me to do it. So I grabbed my Helix and headed for the boat.
Boom! The first gun went off and the elite group jumped into the water wearing only jammers! 3 minutes later the age groupers were off followed by the wetsuit swimmers. The race course goes along the edge of Angel Island and then you are out in open water in the bay. So, when the gun went off for the 3rd wave, I ran along the shore line as far as as I could before jumping in the water. I had an early lead and in the wetsuit, the water really wasn't that bad. Was happy I had my wetsuit and skull cap though!
I started to move ahead of the group ahead of me and got out into the open water. That early good feeling was gone and I was starting to hurt. Really hurt. I laugh now but at the time my arms felt heavy and I had to really decrease my stroke rate. Then I made my first and biggest mistake. I stopped. I had to. I was in pain and my mind couldn't take it. I saw the bright green caps getting closer and I thought I was done. But I put my head down and tried to fight through it. I knew if I kept swimming at an easier pace things would come back around.
Several people passed me but there was nothing I could do. Towards the end I did feel better, but I was really happy no one was around me because I didn't want to have to sprint the finish.
New Zealand's Kane Radford and Australia's Melissa Gorman won the elite division in very close races. I did not see them finish because, well, I was still suffering in the water. But this race is obviously very competitive at the top level and we are so happy and proud to be a part of it and a supporter of all the athletes.
Maybe next year I'll fair a bit better!
P.S. check out the pic of me and my buddy Sean Mahoney!

Brownlee, World Champion

blueseventys Alistair Brownlee pieced together a superb race at the Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Series Grand Final on Australia’s Gold Coast as he crossed the line in 1:44:51 to take his fifth win of the year to complete an unbeaten season of racing. Brownlee becomes the first triathlete to ever win the ITU junior, under 23 and senior titles.
Brownlee is always near the front in any race and is one of thye few racers out there that can truely swim bike and run at the front.
Brownlee has won 5 ITU races from 5 starts, an imnpressive young man who at the age of 21 is only going to get faster....

Man attacked by otter in wetsuit

Yes this actually happened, but it very quickly became a news story at blueseventy:

blueseventy announces new otter repellent wetsuit research.

After Sanford Schmid was viscously attacked by an otter in the in Canada, blueseventy has announced it will look into otter repellent features as part of it's Canadian suits for next year.

Speaking on behalf of blueseventy North America sales manager John Duquette reinforced the importance of looking out for the owners of blueseventy suits. "We understand that Canadians face a lot of wildlife threats and we're prepared to take every step necessary to protect athletes, without damaging the environment.

Early testing, using electric shock treatments, a strong smelling rub on gel, and pictures on the suits of bears, a natural enemy of otters, had not proved successful at this stage.

We're committed to finding a solution to this problem, blueseventy feels that otters and people should be able to happily coexist, and that their must be a solution out there. eh!."

Waikiki Roughwater 09

Our own Roque Santos made a quick trip out to the waters of Waikiki for the annual Roughwater swim this past weekend. Check out his blog post below!
Yes, this was the 40th annual Waikiki Rough Water Swim. The 2.3 mile swim in Hawaii inspired the 2.3 mile start of every ironman race. The Waikiki Rough Water Swim is basically why the distance of the Ironman is 2.3 miles!! A little trivia for you! This years races had the 2nd biggest turn out ever! Almost 1,000 swimmers took on the course down the shores of Waikiki. Like a lot of us at blueseventy, we just don't support the sport we love, we like to participate in them. I was able to jump in and take on the swim in my blueseventy for the 2nd year in a row! I personally love the swim. The first part of the race takes you out about 677 yards and it is typically a rough start because you are going out against the waves and the reef in some parts is really close to the surface. At the first of two orange bouys is the first right hand turn. Then the long swim down the shore of Waikiki starts. The race this year was really nice because the tide was on our side the entire way down towards the Rainbow Hilton. I also like the course because at this point in the race you can see the two twin towers that is your site and I breath to the right and on an up wave, I get a great view of the beach! And by this time most swimmers are set into a pace and I was happy to be hanging out behind a nice peloton of about 6 to 8 swimmers. The water is clear and I did find myself looking for fish as I swam along. Now, the tricky part for me is after the second right hand turn towards the shore. The direct line takes you down the boat channel. But, the issue with swimming this way is that the tide also is pushing its way out against you. So, most people angle wide to hit some waves on the way in! I attempted to do this for the second year in a row. However, as luck would have it, or my poor navigational skills, I took it too far left and missed the waves and ended up doing a big circle to get to the finish.

For me to have the opportunity to be able to swim in one of the most well know swims in the world is a great honor. To be able to race against young kids and silver bullets (aka older people) is a great honor. For the second year in a row, I was 3rd in my age group, but my time was about 14 min's faster! It was mainly because of the current. In fact, Trent Grimsey broke the course record! He was in a blueseventy leg skin! Luane Rowe, the women's champion, also from Australia was also in a blueseventy

Blueseventy is very proud to be a part of this race for the 2nd year and we look forward to expanding our involvement with this race in the future. This race it a true classic! Congratulations to all the participated and if you did not, next year is not too far away.