Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Superhero suit to change face of swimming

1 April 2010.
For immediate release

blueseventy has received a supreme court ruling today declaring that the swimming governing body's rules regarding suits has no legal grounds, and that all the potentially controversial suits may now be worn by swimmers competing on the world stage.

The ruling coincides with the new release of three new cutting edge designs from the New Zealand based swimming brand.

The DC, “Design Confidential”, range of swimskins have been announced with claims of incredible super powers, much like the suits names: The Hulk, The Super Suit, and the Spidery Suit.

The Hulk Suit, is designed to offer chemical assistance to the swimmer, through the power of anger. The suit uses nano technology to improve performance, triggered by hormones in the body produced when the person becomes angry, drastically increasing the power of the swimmer.

The Super Suit is developed with a small cape on the back, which acts as a wing like structure creating
lift in the water and allowing the swimmer to "fly”.

The Spider Suit uses a weave of web like tendrils around the body, vastly improving the explosive power of an athlete, enabling the swimmer to leap effortlessly off the blocks almost 10m into the pool.

blueseventy's director of genetic research, April Hoodwink, commented, “Already estimations indicate that the new law, and resulting suits, would see the old 2009 world records become obsolete within days.”

Ends
For more details, mail media@blueseventy.com


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Radford takes win at sand to surf


Kane Radford made a late decision to enter the 2.8km Sand to Surf Sovereign Ocean Swim on Saturday, and managed to hold at Bryn Murphy for the win. Kane caught a wave and bodysurfed in to take the win. Kane and Bryn were both enjoying their first outing in the new 2010 Helix, and we're pretty stoked with the boys debuting the suit with such class... find out more about the race here.

carbon racer reviews start rolling in

we like to think we come up with some pretty awesome stuff, but our carbon racer goggles are something pretty special. we're especially stoked when the reviews agree with us!
Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me...

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Scalise Takes the Polar Bear Plunge


blueseventy athlete Erik Scalise braved the sub 40 degree waters at the 20th annual Gar Woods Polar Bear Swim in Lake Tahoe. A record setting 44 swimmers competed in the 250 yard race. Erik sported his blueseventy Helix and came out of the water first overall leaving the competition far behind. Many participants didn't even make it far off the beach - big congrats Erik for braving the cold and coming out first!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Aussie National record in blueseventy neroTX

Melissa Gorman stormed to a personal best time (or personal record time if your from US) on her way to demolishing the field and wining gold in the 1500m Free at the Australian National Championships this weekend. The World 5km Champion, also broke Haley Lewis 17 year old Australian and Commonwealth record on Sunday 11pm 21st March 2010. She's pictured looking as proud as punch below.

The other photo is our Australian distributor Michelle Graham, with a couple of happy swimmers. Michelle is always up for a photo with one of "her swimmers", and has probably spent more time fitting people into technical swimskins than anyone else on the planet. She spent 2 hours on dry land in one of our neroTX prototypes, just to check the long term comfort. That's dedication, thanks Michelle.

In the same meet it was another National championship winner in 31 yr Ashley Callus who took the 50 free title in a young mans time of 22:07. We're off to the pool to start training for our comebacks now.

Monday, March 22, 2010

teamTBB launches into 2010 in style!

teamTBB have had a cracker start to their season at the Singapore Ironman 70.3 with a race win for Caroline Steffen and 2nd place for James Cunnama.

The year to date race results for teamTBB 2010 are becoming an impressive list of results:

· 1st place Ironman 70.3 Geelong (Australia) by Caroline Steffen (Feb 2010).
· 2nd place Ironman Malaysia by Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (Feb 2010).
· 1st place Ironman China by Amy Marsh (Mar 2010).
· 4th place Abu Dhabi by Caroline Steffen (Mar 2010).
· 1st place Ironman 70.3 Singapore by Caroline Steffen (Mar 2010).
· 2nd place Ironman 70.2 Singapore by James Cunnama (Mar 2010).
· And counting...

teamTBB and its coaching staff have proved once again that they still have the touch to select new hires on the team who have hidden talent, but just needed a little help to materialize it into solid race results. teamTBB have a structure that includes a development squad, world class coaching and some great support from sponsors (like us - plug!!).

You can read the race report and find out more about the team by heading to the teamTBB website.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

didymo dave


the blueseventy team often roam with abandon at events, fitting people in wetsuits, exploring the open water and just generally hanging out with people as passionate about the open water as we are. One of the more interesting characters we had the joy of meeting was didymo dave. didymo dave appears at most NZ triathlons and other water based events held in the country's pristine lakes. Dave's job is to educate us all on the spread of some nasty little gremlins like didymo that clog up our water ways and threaten to ruin our favourite swimming spots. Check out www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests/didymo to learn how to make sure your wettie is didymo free when you swim in lakes.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Luke McKenzie Wins IM China
























blueseventys Luke McKenzie wins another IM ( this time in the scorching conditions of China)

Lukes race report is below.

TORTURE! That's what the race at Ironman China was this past Sunday!

My main focus for the early season was my defense of Ironman Malaysia two weeks ago. Unfortunately I had an upset stomach and the continual vomiting and dehydration forced me out of the race.( Despite this i lead out of the water in my blueseventy swimskin and had the lead up untill the 50k into the bike) I knew I was in good shape and wanted to utilize my fitness so I decided to line up at Ironman China for a "second chance". I was definitely looking forward to taking on Macca for the first time outside of Hawaii at the Ironman distance. I was really nervous going into the second of the two Ironmans as I hadn't done much training between and I felt like I had lost a little fitness and I didn't feel as sharp as I did before Langkawi. I didn't know how my day was going to pan out.

My day started well as I moved straight to the lead in the swim. After 950m we exited the water and began the second lap. It was pure chaos! From the time I jumped in for the second loop I was swimming through and over the top of poor age group athletes (sorry!) I established a 90 second lead on the next guy and around 2.5 minutes on Chris McCormack, the man I was most concerned about.

The wind was howling on the bike and we faced a server headwind and then crosswind over the first 45km. I was getting reports I was gaining time on Macca and Marcus Fuchbach which gave me confidence to push harder on the way back to town. Wen we turned at 90km I had around 6 minutes on them and was hoping I could maybe gain another 4 over the next 90km. At around 120km I got word that Macca had pulled out of the race and Fuchbach was dropping further behind and I was able to conserve some energy over the last 60km. By now the temperature was beginning to rise and I was definitely happy to get off the bike!

I knew we were in for a tough one when I started the run into the blast furnace headwind for the first 5km. I had a 12 minute lead starting the marathon on Jozsef Major of Hungary. Jozsef is known for his fast run splits and I knew no lead was safe as long as he was behind me. After the initial 5km slog to the first turn I was happy to be running with the wind for the next 10km. The problem was having no wind in your face made it boiling hot! I managed to build up a 13 minute buffer on Jozsef as I start the second lap but I felt like I was going up and down on the spot slogging back into the headwind. I turned at 30km and was expecting to see my lead dramatically reduced but I still maintained about 12 minutes. As soon as I crossed paths with Jozsef I fell in an absolute heap! I was ticking over really well and then all of a sudden I was on the verge of bonking. With a bit over 8km to go I got a slight cramp in my hammy and I had to walk for about 50m. Walking was going to kill my lead and I had to try and get to the next aid station and down some fluid, salt and coke. I spent about 1 minute there regathering myself. I had lead from the gun, I wasn't going to loose this in the last few kilometers again, like I did at Ironman Louisville last year. Luckily I got back into a shuffle, the kilometers started ticking by and I was finally within reach of the line. I finished in 8:41:15 leading from start to finish. It was also a new Ironman China course record. Unfortunately within a few minutes once the adrenaline had worn off I started to go downhill and ultimately ended up on an IV drip!

I was extremely happy to win my fourth and what I regard as my toughest Ironman title. I am now looking forward to some downtime in Bali for 5 days before Amanda and I return to Australia and start to prepare for the American and European season.

Congratulations to everyone that finished the race in China. These Asian races may not be fast but they are definitely some of the hardest you will find anywhere in the world. You often feel like you are just racing your head rather than any other competitors. It comes down to mentally breaking through the pain barrier which I think makes crossing the line just a little bit sweeter.


IRONMAN CHINA - Top 10 Men
1. Luke McKenzie 8:41:15
2. Jozsef Major 8:52:29
3. Jens Groenbek 9:17:06
4. Shingo Tani 9:19:01
5. Mike SCHIFFERLE 9:30:16
6. Eneko Elosegui 9:31:46
7. Justin Granger 9:41:45
8. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi 9:43:57
9. Brandon Marsh 9:52:00
10. David Bentley 9:52:51

Monday, March 15, 2010

unofficial paralympic world record set by kiwi in nero tx

I happened to be in the Swim T3 store in Auckland a few weeks back when paralympic swimmer Rebecca Dubber from North Shore Swimming Club was being fitted for her first ever pair of nero tx. Imagine how stoked we are to hear that she went on to set an unofficial Paralympic world record in the 800m freestyle class S7 at the Mayfair Pools National Age Group Championships just days later. Rebecca’s time of 11:21.06 was outstanding and well inside the current world record time of 11:36.43. Rebecca is determined to make it to the 2012 Paralympic Games, and we're certain she will!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

New uses for blueseventy goggles?

Karen Rogers swims across large bodies of water filled with Sharks. For example, "this June I will be swimming from the Farallon Islands to Aquatic Park in San Francisco, a distance of 30+ miles. A feat that has never been accomplished by a female."

See, we told you. We sent Karen some Siren goggles to try out, and got back this blog posting....

http://karenmrogers.com/2010/03/13/mountain-girls-are-tough/

got something you think can top that, send it in and we'll post it up on the blog..

Monday, March 8, 2010

Townsend Debuts New neroTX in Tokyo


blueseventy athlete Darian Townsend represented his home country of South Africa at the Japan Open in Tokyo recently.
“…the meet was pretty pleasing. A lot of events in two days so it ended up being some good training too!”
Darian debuted his new neroTX Jammer with great results scoring a win in the 200m Free, 2nd in the 100m and 50m Free, and 4th in the 100m IM.
"...the suit fits right and was comfortable to wear..." says Townsend. Great performances Darian and good luck for the next one!

The Original Ironman does Taupo

Dave Orlowski was one of the original few to complete the first ever Ironman in Kona. After 31 years Dave has resurfaced and is traveling around aiming to complete every Ironman over 5 years. Things have changed a lot since the first ironman - Dave cut off a pair of jeans for the first one because he wanted to wear pants that had pockets... he did the swim, bike and run all in those cut off jeans. He had to borrow a bike for the 180km cycle, and even though he had to stop and buy his food from McDonalds while on the bike course, he still managed to complete the challenge in just over 12 hours or so. Now that is a feat of endurance!

Dave's Ironman NZ report... 6 Mar 2010
The day started with a few clouds as we prepared for the swim. Lake Taupo was beautiful as the sun was about to rise and the athletes tried to find there spot for the swim start.
Prime Minister John Key fired the cannon and we were all off. Felt great in the swim as I took off but could never get into a rythm as I tried to find my space. There were many new first timers - you could tell by them swimming all over and not using spotting to find buoys. Came out of the water at 1:16 which I felt I was off by about 10 minutes.

The bike was windy or should I say a beast. As we started out it was not too bad and temperature was comfortable to keep body temps down. It did not take long and the winds kicked up and were with us all day. It just seemed no matter what direction you were riding the winds were there. I was off my bike time by about an hour and finished at 7:19 and off to the run.

Of course we had the wind in our face on the run out as part of the two loop run. You could enjoy the wind pushing you back to Taupo. This is where my race always falls apart. I have been working on it this year but ended with a 6:50 marathon and overall time of 15:50. I don't worry about my time when I am on the run as I try to enjoy as many of the spectators and volunteers and my day doing Ironman.

A finish is a finish!!!! This was # 9 for me but more important 1 more to doing my goal of all the Ironmans in the 5 years finishing with the 35th anniversary of Kona!

Train Safe everyone and Thanks for Support.

You can always count on Blueseventy products to get you to the finish and complete your goal for the day

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Update from Ironman NZ from Dave Orlowski

Dave Orlowski is a legend among Ironman - one of the few to do the very first Ironman in 1978. Ironman website has an interview with Dave at the link below, but here's the latest on his time in Taupo...

Well the week has been busy. 3 great swims in the blueseventy Helix slicing through the clear waters of Lake Taupo. I have always had to wear sleeveless wetsuits in events due to a shoulder replacement I had 11 years ago. The Helix has given my shoulder the flexibility in a wetsuit that I couldnot find in others and the ability to do the full Ironmans without shoulder fatigue.

Taupo is a beautiful destination for athletes to compete. The scenery is unmatched and the New Zealand people are wonderful and warm. I took blueseventy with me for filming today while doing Taupo Bungy. This was my answer to pre race massage, chiropractic, and tension release . Quite the thrill for the adventurous athlete at Ironman. ESPN as well as Ironman accompanied me on this journey for the production of the event.

Carbo dinner tonight and Mike Riley will be doing a Q&A regarding the first Ironman in 1978. Should be a great night!

Read more about Dave's experiences here http://ironman.com/events/ironman/worldchampionship/dawn-henry-profiles-one-of-the-original-ironman-competitors