guess the location of our endurance tri apparel shoot...

It's not hard really is it... the sheep in the background give it away, but yes this is our shoot in Auckland, New Zealand with ITU athlete Ryan Sissons. The new tri apparel range is coming... you can't wait can you? Neither can we!!

blueseventy goes, er, fishing?

Our Helix is popular with triathletes, open water swimmers, freedivers, and now it seems it's moving into the recreational fishing market. Actually this is Cam Todd, a kiwi triathlete we sponsor, and this photo came across my desk with his end of season update. Seems he's been doing a spot of spear fishing with his family during his break... With the help of Dad on the gaff and his sisters' spear gun, Cam landed this whopper kingfish in the Coromandel. Hmmmm... king fish steaks... yum.

Tis the season to be racing...

We keep track of all the major events happening around the world and man are there heaps! This last weekend we followed Ironman 70.3 Lonestar, Ironman South Africa, St Anthony's and the Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup, just to name a few. And I have to say, our blueseventy athletes are doing us proud!

St Anthonys kicked off a successful year for Cam Dye who took the win, followed closely by Greg Bennett. Dustin McLarty was first out of the water followed by Cam Dye, Stuart Hayes, Kyle Leto, Brian Fleischmann and Matty Reed. Cam managed to make a break on the bike with an impressive 54:42 bike split which was only bettered by fellow blueseventy athlete Andrew Starykowicz. Cam topped off the day with a solid run to score an impressive win over Greg Bennett, with 2-time Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander coming in for third.

Cam became a blueseventy sponsored athlete when he went pro because of his strong swimming background. After a couple years of development he is now competing at the top of sport beating legends like Bennett and Alexander. Awesome.

Read more on slowtwitch

At Ironman South Africa, blueseventy athlete Bree Wee led the woman out of the water in the new 2010 Helix. Caroline Steffen who has proved her strength already twice this season at 70.3 stepped up to tackle the full Ironman distance and was 3rd female out the water. Caroline and Bree entered T2 head to head but Caroline pulled away from Bree on the run but was caught by eventual winner and last years runner up Germany’s Sonja Tajsich leaving Steffen with a hard fought and well deserved 2nd place in 9:22:00, behind Sonia Tajsich of Germany in 9:16:55.

Steven Bayliss (GBR) was 2nd out of the water in a time of 48:59, in what was described as choppy conditions. Overtaken early on the bike it appeared the early push had taken its toll on him as he entered the run. But the 2008 champion dug deep and moved back up the rankings making up 3 places with a run time of 3:01:12 to cross the line in 5th place in 8:40:28. Hometown hero Raynard Tissink took the win for his 2nd IM South Africa title.

Also, blueseventy sponsored athlete Oscar Galindez finished 2nd place in the Argentina Long Distance Triathlon Championship. “I am happy to get the title and I’m satisfied with my performance in Concordia, also I have utilized this race as a training to reach a good performance to upcoming race in Ironman Brazil”.

Anyone else stuck?

Big empathy and love to all of our friends from triathlon world stuck at airports and hotels awaiting to get home from their weekend of international racing. I am stuck in Seattle (Well stuck, but not miserable) and i can only Imagine the pain you may be going through stuck on a row of seats trying to sleep at an airport. I have some friends in NY airport waiting to get back to good olde "Blighty" they sounded miserable as hell when i called them. Sporting friends, we love you all, keep smiling and keep praying for a cease to mother natures road-block.

Warriner takes win at New Orleans 70.3

Sam Warriner has continued her success at the 70.3 distance, winning the New Orleans 70.3 race on Sunday. Sam left T2 in 5th position, and pulled out a great half-marathon of 1.21.35 in the heat to run her way past Dede Griesbauer and Linsey Corbin to take the lead from TBB athlete Amy Marsh.

In the mens race Andy Potts had an impressive swim that gave him over a minute and a half lead heading onto the bike, followed by Graham O'Grady in his first attempt at this distance. Terenzo Bozzone managed to catch Potts on the bike, but it was short lived with Potts quickly regaining the lead and running a 1.12.40 to secure the win comfortably. We were pretty stoked to see Graham O'Grady hold on for 7th - not a bad start at long distance racing!

Results:
Men
1. Andy Potts (USA) 3:43:44
2. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:47:17
3. Paul Amey (GBR) 3:49:52
4. Frederick Van Lierde (BEL) 3:50:19
5. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:54:02

Women
1. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 4:16:44
2. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:17:51
3. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:20:23
4. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:22:06
5. Lauren Harrison (USA) 4:28:49

Rave Reviews by Jim Vance on the 2010 Helix

Renowned triathlete and coach Jim Vance gives the 2010 Helix two thumbs up! Check it out below:

"I've never really believed that there was much difference in wetsuits. I figured they were all about the same, in terms of comfort, feel, performance, etc. I now realize that is not the case at all.

When I first put it on, and noticed a few key things, like the thinness of the arms, and the patch on the forearm, I was even a little skeptical. It took me a little longer to put the wetsuit on, but once on, I was amazed at how I didn't feel like I had a heavy weight on my body. It was snug, but non-restrictive in the shoulders and arms. It wasn't hindering my breathing. The neck was snug, but comfortable.

I hopped in the water, and it was so comfortable, I didn't bother kicking for awhile, and yet I felt all the flotation advantages. My arms never felt a struggle against the suit, and there was never a bloated feeling of the water inside, neither in the arms or the trunk of the suit. I got out of the water after swimming for 45 minutes, and not even a single chaffing spot. I never even put on any body glide or other lube, and still no chaffing.

Even though the wetsuit took longer to get on, it came off in a snap! After years of swimming in the competition, I'm ashamed to think there was a suit out there which was much better, and I didn't have it. How many front packs that I just missed, could I have held onto?

My amazement didn't stop at the suit either. I tried the goggles, and they fit like a comfy chair at home. Never leaked once! RIGHT OUT OF THE CASE! I couldn't believe it. I thought it was just a lucky one-time thing, so I grabbed the other pair Tony gave me, and SAME THING! NO LEAKS! It took me many seasons to find a pair of goggles which wouldn't leak much. I can't believe how much frustration I allowed myself to deal with for not getting a pair of these goggles sooner. It would have made the thousand miles I've put in, in the pool, not suck!

Bottom line, I'm a believer. I will definitely want to have Blue Seventy more involved in anything I do, from my open-water clinics, to my speaking events on swimming, to my TriJuniors program and my individual athletes."

Thanks for the note Jim! For more information on the new 2010 Helix go to: http://www.blueseventy.com/products/detail/helix

wish you were here...

I think Dean may just think he has died and gone to triathlete heaven... sure looks it from the photos we are getting through! Stunning views of the sea featuring loads of talented athletes wearing the best wetsuit we have ever made. If you are going to do a photo shoot... do it right.

oh stop it... you're making me jealous

It's bad enough I missed out on the trip to Thailand to do a photo shoot with the guys from TBB... but to get sent pictures like these is killing us here in the office. Dean - come on - send us the ones of the crazy traffic and deep fried bugs!

James Cunnama enjoying the sun on the front of the thai boat. Jealous much?

wet and wild in Krabi, Thailand

Dean updates us on his wet and wild times... water and elephants - what more could you ask for??

The festival of water has begun here in Krabi, almost like a New year street party the locals do it in style. National holiday and every street has hoses, buckets, oil drums... anything that will carry water to be sprayed, thrown and splashed on passers by.
The best to date is the use of Elephants to spray passers by...now that is taking it to a blueseventy level, if you are gonna do it, do it well.

Great to be here for the water festival, after all the water is open.

blueseventy tags along with team tbb

Dean does Thailand

It's 7am and no one dare face the wrath of coach Brett 'Sutto' Sutton should they be late for departure. All the athletes are looking super fit and tanned and ready for some of them to take the trip to ironman SA in two weeks time.

Today is the first day of my visit to the team TBB training camp in Krabi, Thailand. Today is track session and I have stupidly volunteered to do a run on this national holiday celebrating "Water" bets are on I we will be covered in water from anyone passing by "song Kran".

Cara Baker is making a bit of a splash

Open water swimmer Cara Baker has popped "home" to NZ to make her debut at this weekends King of the Bays ocean swim (last of the Sovereign series) in Auckland. Cara is having a dream year, having been the only NZ swimmer to gain a spot at the World Open Water Swimming Championships to be held in Canada in July, but it's not all been plain sailing for her.

Cara’s rise in the world of swimming included a few hurdles, like a serious bout of illness, major surgery, further illness and an understandable lack of confidence in her ability to cope with the rigorous training required of an international swimmer, let alone the mental demands of racing.

But the past summer Cara has shown she can leap hurdles as well as swim like a fish. Her health has returned, her fitness is as good as it has been and she is winning titles along the way.

Under the expert guidance of Australian Dennis Cotterell at her Gold Coast home, Cara has made every post a winner this summer, finishing second in the 10km and winning the 5km races at the Australian Open Water Championships and cleaning up both in New Zealand. This girl has more talent than you can shake a stick at, and we’re pretty excited to have her on the blueseventy team!

hydra (happy) vision product review

Well this just has to be about the funniest review we have ever read on one of our products... I think I might have to hire this guy to write our product features!

Review by ZenTri in Austin for SXSW
I recently got the Blue Seventy Hydra-Vision goggles and have been swimming with them for a few weeks. I like! The gaskets seal nicely around the eye sockets and the yellow tint makes you either see very clearly or very angrily, depending on your mood.

I noticed immediately that the adjustment widgets on the side are nice and streamlined and work well. When I put them on an hit the Zen-Tri hydro testing facility (neighborhood pool), the sharpness of my vision from the yellowish amber lenses was intense! I could see objects extremely clearly, making them great for sighting buoys and approaching death-fish (anything that moves in open water).

Side-vision for spotting approaching death-fish and/or opponent racers is excellent. Not just adequate, but excellent. Never underrate the utility of peripheral vision in open water. It will help you quickly assess if your time has come or if it's just a stick.

The best part was when I took them off. I immediately realized that it was actually not a sunny happy day, but rather quite dreary and gray outside. On. Off. On. Off. Happy! Meh. Happy! Meh.

The non-adjustable nose makes them only for people of the right face shape, so try before you buy. If your face is wrong, don't blame Blue Seventy. You obviously should have picked better parents

Sydney sets off a great start to ITU world champs series

We've been hanging out for the start of the ITU world champs series and race one in Sydney set the scene for a season of great racing.

Double Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty had a very intelligent race, swimming and riding comfortably before some clever tactical running put him into the lead late in the run, and he powered home to comfortably take the win by 6 seconds.

Despite US athletes Laura Bennett and Sarah Haskins leading out of the water (closely followed by young kiwi Teresa Adams in an impressive debut) the womens race came down to the run to sort out who would take the title. The group of four featured 2010 winner Emma Moffatt, bronze medalist Andrea Hewitt, and Mariko Adachi (JPN), and Barbara Riveros (Chile). The increadible mental strength of these four showed through as surge after surge failed to split the group. In the end it was Adachi who succumbed to the pace first, leaving a sprint for the line to give Riveros her first win, just pipping Hewitt (2nd) and Moffatt (3rd).

If this is sample of the racing we are in for this year, it's going to be an exciting season!

Nelson Mandela Festival dominated by blueseventy suits.

World 5K champion Melissa Gorman of Australia (left in photo) demonstrated her speed outswimming New Zealand’s Brenda Russell (right) in the inaugural 2K Ocean Racing Series World Championship race at the four-day international MTN Nelson Mandela Bay Splash Festival in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on Saturday.

Melissa, who recently set a Commonwealth record in the 1500-meter freestyle at the recent Australian National Championships, won comfortably while placing third overall in 24:50. Brenda, a former Zimbabwean now competing for New Zealand, finished in 26:20 with Port Elizabeth teenager Carmell Billson third in 26:29. While she was up with the leading men’s pack at the back end of the first lap, "I was a bit shocked actually. I felt really good out there. The conditions were beautiful – kinda similar to Australia really."

Melissa's victory was mirrored on the men's side by English Channel record holder and 3-time Olympian Petar Stoychev in a close battle with Durban’s Luke Nisbet after a mellow start on the two-loop course off Hobie Beach, known as the Sunshine Coast and water sports capital of South Africa.

Like the women's race, swimmers from three different countries finished 1-2-3 on the men's side with Petar crossing the line first in 24:28 followed by Luke in 24:40 and Australia’s Andrew Mosel third in 25:01.

"It was very hard. It is the first time that I’ve competed in a race that starts and finishes on the beach," said the 33-year-old although one could argue that he swam his record-breaking English Channel swim like a race, starting near the White Cliffs of Dover and ended in Cape Gris-Nez, France. "Luke, the second guy was very fast. I was worried about the run at the end – I’m not used to that. I just went as fast as possible towards the end. I was tired, it was so quick."

24-year-old Luke said, "I was on Stoychev’s feet at the last turn, but then he accelerated and pulled a small gap. Winning would’ve been nice, but I’m happy with my result."

Both men's and women's winners wore nero 10km suits.

The Ocean Racing Series World Championship race is part of a multi-discipline international marine sporting extravaganza at the four-day MTN Nelson Mandela Bay Splash Festival where top athletes from around the world gathered to compete along the sun-drenched coast.

The Suit War is BACK ON!!! - GoSwim!

our new line of suits are certainly making a splash....
The Suit War is BACK ON!!! - GoSwim!