DIBENS FIRST TO WIN THREE STRAIGHT

Julie Dibens is a cool cat. She’s calm, collected, confident and an absolute monster on this Maui Xterra course, Julie Existed the water in second place , making the ground up on the leader within 5mins of riding then Julie – making it look easy, started putting more on more time on her competitors with every turn of the pedal.

By mile 11 she had a four-minute lead and was mixed in with the top 15 men. A few seconds later Brian Smith (one of XTERRA’s all-time fastest men’s mountain bikers) rode by and said “Wow!” – referencing the fact that he was halfway through the bike and Dibens was still in front of him.

At mile 15 Dibens was up by nearly five minutes, it was more than that at transition, and when she finished with a women’s event record time of 2:56:42, the finish line crowd waited another seven-and-a-half minutes before seeing Lesley Paterson. She had the day’s fastest bike split, even better than Marie-Helene Premont (an Olympic silver medalist in the 2004 mountain bike competition in Athens), Shonny Vanlandingham (NORBA’s all-time best) and Melanie McQuaid (a Canadian National Team rider for years).

Dibens is the first pro – man or woman – to win this race three years-in-a-row and joins the exclusive club of three-time winners with Conrad Stoltz, Melanie McQuaid, and Eneko Llanos.

“I felt good all day except for that last stretch of the run on the lava,” said Dibens. “I was able to ride in control and run smart. I’m delighted to be up here on the podium again and to win this race three times in a row is really special.”

In the ultimate display of class, Dibens deflected talking about her own race at the awards ceremony dinner but rather praised Paterson, who she had raced against on the ITU circuit nearly a decade ago, and told the assembled masses that this course was good for her and on any other course Melanie McQuaid could "kick my a#*".

Congratulations Julie, Your a legend!!

Congratulations to NZ masters

Kitted out in there blueseventy neros, NZ masters showed there swimming prowess at the recent master swimming champs


Barry

5 golds

Danielle

2 golds 100m breast, 200m breast
1 Bronze 50 m breast
2 NZ records

shiralee

2 golds 200m fly, 100m fly
1 silver 200 f/s
(2 NZ records)

Penny

1 silver 200 f/s
2 NZ records (mixed IM relay 4th) Mixed f/s relay 4th
top 6th 100 m F/s
Top 10 in 50m F/S
ocean swim xld (too cold) bummer

Russell

top 8 50 fly
top 5 100 fly (nz record)

Bob

top 9 200 breaststroke

Gear Patrol Gives blueseventy Transition FZ Bag Thumbs Up

Check out the review of the Transition FZ Bag by GearPatrol.com!

Triathletes are, by nature, gear hounds. Carbon fiber bikes and helmets, tri-specific cycling and running shoes, caps, glasses, water bottles, slippery wetsuits and goggles - the list goes on. So it stands to reason that a bag designed for hauling triathlon gear would do a pretty good job for just about anything. Blueseventy’s Nero Bag is a backpack that is as versatile as it is well-made. Built for ferrying tri gear to and from races, the pack goes way beyond its intended use and would be as useful as a daypack or weekend carry-on luggage. The Blueseventy Nero Bag boasts some smart design features. A cavernous main compartment is big enough for a couple of water bottles, a towel and your cycling and running shoes as well as warm-up pants and a jacket. Meanwhile, the separate bottom compartment expands to hold a size XXL 5mm wetsuit with ease. Best of all, this wetsuit basement is completely sealed and lined with polyurethane, so everything else stays dry on the trip home after the race. An outside expandable mesh pocket easily swallows a bike helmet or a couple of thick novels for that long flight while a smaller zipped pocket carries Gu packs or a cell phone.
Some other thoughtful touches on the Nero include a bottom loop for clipping a flashing bicycle light, inside pockets and outlet ports for an mp3 player and hydration bladder and heavy duty shoulder, sternum, and padded waist straps that wouldn’t be out of place on a technical hiking pack. Blueseventy thought of almost everything. The only oversight is the lack of any external water bottle pockets for carrying your drippy bike bottles. But all in all, this backpack is as versatile as the sport(s) for which it was created. Cost: $79

Chris Lieto

Chris on his way to second place at the Ford IM World Championship

blueseventy athletes had an amazing day today

With Chrissie Wellington winnning her third consecutive title
Chris Lieto taking second place overal in his best performace here in Kona
Lucie Zelenkova leading the women from the water by 2:30 seconds.

Tereza Marcel 4th
Bek Keat 5th
Rachel Joyce 7th
Dede Briesbauer 10th

Bracht, Timo 6th
Bockel, Dirk 7th
Jacobs, Pete 8th

All round fantaistic results from all our athletes,
Congratulations to all of the competitors

The team at blueseventy

Kona training swim in the new PZ3

Training in the new PZ3 this afternoon in Kona. All the Athletes have commented how well this suit swims...lighter, faster and a more contoured fit.

The Banner Drop

blueseventy at the Coffee's of Hawaii boat

blueseventy have been present at the coffee's of Hawaii boat each morning from 7Am through till 9 Am.
It was great to see you all out there and congratulations to those that made it to the bottom and won a pair of bluesevevnty limited edition kona goggles.

Below is some footage from our banner drop.... (or attempts should i say)
Great to see you all out there.

team blueseventy

Day 4 - early morning at the pier in Kona with blueseventy

Early mornings for everyone here in Kona! Day 4 we were at the pier by 7am for the race against Olympic Champion Maarten Van Der Weijden out to the Coffees of Kona boat - beat Maarten and get a new PZ3 swimskin!

blueseventy in Kona for IM World Championships!

Guy, Dean, Shawn and Megan are hanging out in Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships. Our 2010 limited edition Kona '09 swimskins have arrived! Check out the video with Guy and Matt Lieto below to get a sneak peak of the new suit!

Dave's Swim from Europe to Africa

Dave Matthes made the trip from California to Spain with a specific goal in mind - to swim from Spain to Morocco - across the Strait of Gibraltor. Check out the details of his swim below!

"Dave Matthews, Masters Swimmer from California, swims the Strait of Gibraltar in a Blue 70 Reaction Sleeveless Wetsuit. The wetsuit proved to be warm, fast and comfortable even after hours and hours of swimming.
The Strait of Gibraltar separates Spain from Morocco (Europe from Africa) and connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Gibraltar Strait Swimming Association, who regulate swimming across the Strait,
“The shortest distance across the Gibraltar Strait is from Punta Oliveros (Spain) to Punta Cires (Morocco) with a total distance of 14.4 kilometers (about 9 miles). Because of the characteristics of the crossing between these two points, it is not the most suitable course for the swimmer. Most of the attempts have been made from Tarifa Island to the vicinity of Punta Cires having to swim between 18.5 to 22 kilometers due to the influence of the strong currents which prevail in the Strait. The fundamental factor in the crossing is the current, which is almost always eastbound, and can reach more than 3 knots (5.5 Km/h). “
Since the water was below the temperature wetsuit vs. non-wetsuit threshold I had set (66 F), I decided to do the swim in a wetsuit which meant my crossing, if I made it, would be considered wetsuit assisted. Otherwise I was going to swim in the Blue 70 Nero. After 8 days of waiting for the weather conditions to permit and other swimmers to try a crossing, my day arrived on September 19, 2009. Since another swimmer (Marko Rafaj) was also waiting and was about my same speed we decided to swim the Strait together. Marko is also a Blue 70 fan and was wearing a Nero legskin and Blue 70 goggles.
Marko and I boarded one of the two escort boats, one pilot boat and one support boat. When we were close to our starting point, we jumped into the water, touched a large rock outcropping, and began swimming. My first thoughts were that the water was very cold and the currents extraordinarily strong. However, neither of us stopped and we both kept swimming. I also felt some confidence knowing I was wearing the Blue 70 wetsuit. We soon passed through the strongest currents and coldest water and hit the middle of the Strait, which was surprising warm, upper 60’s, and relatively calm. We swam in this section of open water nirvana for about an hour and a half until we were about 2 miles from Morocco.
With about a mile remaining, we began seeing Moroccan and Spanish Coast Guard boats near us. We were told we had to exit the water. We didn’t know what had happened. When we got on board, we were told that a boat of people attempting to illegally immigrate to Europe from Africa had capsized and that they were searching for survivors and bodies. They ended up finding 11 survivors and 8 bodies. The remaining 20 to 40 people were lost at sea.
The pilot boat had to find another place for us to land. After consulting his charts to make sure we swam more than enough distance, he motored down the coast of Morocco. After 45 minutes or so, he had us get in the water and swim to a Moroccan beach. After 40 minutes of swimming, we touched land! The swim was done. My swim time was recorded in the logs as 4 hours and 46 minutes and covered around 20 km."

Congrats from all of us at blueseventy Dave!