James and Jodie went up the hill... faster than anyone else

The weekend has started extra early! Some exciting mid week racing at the classic Alpe d’Huez Long Course triathlon in France has yielded some fantastic results from blueseventy athletes Jodie Swallow (just four days after her 7^th place at the London WCS) and teamTBB athlete James Cunnama.

Alpe d’Huez is not for the faint hearted and features some of the toughest climbs in the world. The long course race distance includes a 2.2km, swim, 115km bike and 22km run.

The race has become something of an annual rite of passage for many of the athletes in the teamTBB Leysin based training camp who make the 280km journey to the start on their bikes and then ride the 280km back to camp, all in the name of good solid training!


In the men’s race South African, James Cunnama (3rd in 2009) tore the men’s field apart crossing the line to take his maiden victory with a time of 5:36:33. He made his move on the famous the descent of Col d'Ornon, and then created a huge gap on the ascent of Alpe d'Huez, finishing over eight minutes clear of second place Frenchman Xavier Le Floch. Having one of the best races of his life, American, Scott De Filippis (USA) came in 3rd in a time of 5:51:13.

The ladies race saw Jodie Swallow (GBR), Rebekah Keat (AUS), Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) and Tamsin Lewis (GBR) all have a smoking hot day. Jodie smashed the field to take the win in a time of 6.20.01, with Keat crossing the line in 2nd in 6:48:56.  Fellow teamTBB teammates Kristensen came 4th in 6:59:08 and Lewis 5th in 7:04:08.

It was a great day for teamTBB with five teamTBB athletes starting the long course race and all five athletes placed in the top five. 

not much placid about Amy Marsh

TBB team member Amy Marsh led from start to finish at Ironman Lake Placid to take her third Ironman title (second this year), continuing the success of the team across Europe and America.  I think I must just write a blog titled "TBB wins again" and have it automated to post every Monday!  

Amy traveled to the USA from the team’s Switzerland training camp where she had been based for the past few weeks in the mountains ('high in the hills with a lonely goat heard... yodelaeo') around Leysin.  The training obviously has paid dividends as Marsh swept through the ladies field.

Coming out of the swim in 55:43 she then tackled the hilly bike course with ease and posted a super hot 5:07:43 bike split. Way ahead of the rest of the ladies, despite the comfortable lead she still posted a personal best Ironman marathon time by 8minutes!  Chasing goats around the hills of Switzerland is obviously proving a great training session!

Running across the line in first place with a time 9:27:30, Amy was just 3minutes shy of beating the course record.

For the official race report, athlete blogs and forum you can go to www.teamtbb.com.

it's not just pool records falling in blueseventy

If you have ever gone by ferry from Dover, UK to Calais, France you will know it's not exactly a short ride.  Well this team of blueseventy swimmers have taken multisport to a new level and broken a world record doing it.

The event started from Marble Arch on 18th July, running to Dover in relay style,  followed by a swim across the channel, and if that's not enough, they then cycle from Calais to Paris nonstop. 

Competing in a team of 6, and all working for Shell International, they attempted to break the current world record of 63 hours and 26 mins for the Enduroman Arch to Arc event which was held on 18/19 July.  They um, well, smashed it to put it bluntly.  There final time was 37 hours 15 mins 30s.  They crossed the channel in their blueseventy Reaction wetsuits in the fastest swim time of 12.16.30 (3 hours faster than the 2nd and 3rd placed teams).

Sounds like madness I know but all for a good cause.  The aim of the Shell team is to raise money for St Martin’s homeless shelter in London. Check out more about this event at www.enduroman.com.

Hyde Park racing royalty

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

No the Queen wasn't on the start line yesterday (although I have it on good authority she'd wear blueseventy if she was).  It was the royalty of triathlon women's racing on display yesterday for the Dextro ITU World Championships race in London.

The field was 68 deep and consisted of some of the biggest names in the sport including the winners of all the previous series races; Barbara Riveros Diaz (Sydney), Daniela Ryf (Seoul), Nicola Spirig (Madrid), and Lisa Norden (Hamburg), plus other top series contenders such Emma Moffat (No. 1 ranking) and Andrea Hewitt (No.2).

The swim was hard and fast, with Nicky Samuels commenting that the distance to the first buoy was very short meaning that the large pack at the turn resulted in a 'violent swim'.  Laura Bennett led out of the first lap of the swim and through to T1, where a group consisting of strong swimmers including Jodie Swallow, Kate Roberts and Paula Findlay headed out on to the bike eventually creating a lead group of 24 women who had more than half a minute on the second pack.

It was an exciting run with the lead pack of six women battling hard over the run, before dwindling to just four.  Someone was going to miss out on a podium spot in the close finish.  In the end 21 year old Paula Findlay managed to create a small gap in the last km of the race, running through to take the win - her first ever major victory.  Her run split of 33.51 was the fastest of the day.

Nicola Spirig took second, Helen Jenkins third (for the 2nd year in a row) and Andrea Hewitt was the unlucky one to miss the podium spot from the pack of four.

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

It was a good day for our blueseventy girls with three making the top 10:
Paula Findlay CAN (Gold) 01:51:48
Jodie Swallow GBR (7th) 01:52:45
Kate Roberts RSA (8th) 01:53:04

You can read the full race review on the ITU website here.

Warming up for London

It’s getting towards the business end of the season now with the last three races left on the Dextro Energy ITU World Champs series.  I’m not sure if it was my winning smile or the blueseventy t-shirt but I’m lucky enough to have got myself a sweet spot at the media briefing to grab a chance to hear the pre-race hype first hand.  Emma Moffat was running a little fashionably late (probably those damn tubes), but Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee are here on time to kick things off.

After the usual pre-raceEmma is introduced as having two passions – winning and shopping – the true competitive female triathlete.  She’s sounding pretty relaxed – she’s currently sitting in number 1 in the rankings.

Gomez talked about not being able to race at the start of the season but has come back feeling strong, doing some best times in training and coming off the back of his win at Hamburg he will be tough to beat.  He ran under 29.20 off the bike last week so his run fitness is sure back.  Man that is quick!

But not to be outdone on the comeback trail Brownlee has also shown that the break from racing due to a stress fracture as not dented his winning power with some convincing wins since his resurgence at Madrid.  These two heavy weights will go toe to toe for the first time this series with a win a piece each.  Gomez comes off a win last weekend at Hamburg but Brownlee chose to skip this race.

One journalist asked Gomez about the rivalry between he and Brownlee – “he’s very hard to beat.  You just try and run faster and faster each race”.  It’s scary to think how fast these guys will be off the bike by 2012!

Being an ‘insider’ today I get a few stats on media coverage that paint a pretty picture of the future of triathlon.  The event last year was covered by 35 broadcasters and reached about 1.6m viewers at peak viewing in the UK.  Showing that triathlon is still growing in it’s following, the ITU series will be screened by in – 49 international broadcasters in 146 countries.  We’ll overtake football as the most popular sport easy.  Well maybe.  Hey we can dream.

blueseventy Athlete Rich Burns to be Inducted to the ISHOF

blueseventy athlete Rich Burns will be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame this summer. Rich will join the ranks of some of the greatest athletes, coaches, and swimming contributors from across the world as a member of the ISHOF and we couldn't be more proud of him.
Rich was an All American swimmer out of high school and swam at Indiana under the legendary coach Doc Counsilman. He began competing with United States Masters Swimming in 1981 at the age of 37 and is currently a member of the Tamalpais Aquatic Masters where he has been training for the past 30 years. Over the course of his USMS career Rich as set an amazing 37 individual FINA Masters World Records and 16 relay records.
Other than dominating the USMS competition, Rich has contributed to Masters Swimming through chairing the Marketing Committee and launching the affiliation with Swim Magazine.

Congratulations Rich from all of us here at blueseventy!

another weekend swimming faster in blueseventy...

In yet another busy weekend of racing, blueseventy athletes again led the way out of the water over the weekend with Cam Dye, Graham O'Grady, Dustin McLarty and Ben Collins all leading the pack out of the swim leg in their respective events.

Ben Collins put in a solid performance to retain that lead through to the finish with a win at the San Francisco Triathlon.  Andrew McCartney (7th) and Kyle Leto (9th) where the other blueseventy athletes rounding out the top 10.

At The Lifetime Fitness Triathlon, the huge event again attracted many of the sports brightest stars.  But it was Cam Dye who dominated the swim, one of 5 blueseventy athletes finishing in the top 10 men, with Matt Chrabot claiming a podium spot with 2nd, Cam Dye 6th, David Thompson 7th, Greg Bennett 8th, and Andrew Starykowicz 9th.

At Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island it was young kiwi Graham O'Grady leading the way with an impressive swim.  New to the longer distance racing, O'Grady put in a solid effort on the bike but was unable to match the pace of the lead men in the run, eventually finishing 11th overall, but showing great promise for the future.

The race was won by fellow kiwi Terenzo Bozzone, with blueseventy athletes Tim Berkel and Paul Ambrose round out the podium in 2nd and 3rd.

The blueseventy girls also rocked up with some solid results with Caitlin Snow 2nd, (22 seconds down from winner Kate Major) and Sam Warriner 3rd.  Kim Loeffler narrowly missed getting 3rd, finishing just 14 seconds down from Warriner in 4th.  Carrie Lester (7th) and Annie Gervais (9th) also secured top 10 finishes.

blueseventy and teamTBB paint Europe - um - pink?

Since teamTBB set up training camp on the side of a mountain in Leysin, Switzerland, they have been racing across Europe and notching up wins and podiums like it was going out of fashion. Maybe it is the fresh mountain air, or the clean water, or probably and more realistically it is down to a combination of coach barking out his orders and getting the guys to endure the lactic gradients and chilly water for yet another session.

A beautiful part of the world to be, the weather in Leysin has not been pretty over the past few weeks and this has seen the likes of Amy Marsh, James Cunnama and Rebecca Keat to name a few all taken spills off the bike. Cattle grids, rain and bikes do not make a great combination when training it seems, but while a little bruised and sore they came away with no serious damage and nothing that a few days of Deep Heat wouldn’t fix.

Despite the training tumbles when it comes to race day the guys have been clinically delivering some impressive results. The past 5weeks alone have resulted in 5 big wins. Tereza Macel – the T-Mac started the ball rolling with her win in IM Brazil. That momentum was carried across numerous time zones and into Europe where the team has kept on winning with Caroline ‘Xena’ Steffen taking 70.3 Switzerland and in the same weekend Rebekah Keat taking the Challenge Germany title for the 2nd year in a row. The following week she backed it up by winning Challenge France for the 2nd year in a row too! Next up for Bek and the race to watch this month is Roth on July 18th. She broke the world record last year but still had to settle for second behind Chrissie Wellington. With the same line-up this year Roth is sure to be a close one to watch.

A summary of the top results for the team:

May:

IM Lanzarote – Bella 2nd (Read about it here)

IM Brazil – T-Mac 1st, Donna 5th (Read about it here)

June:

Austria 70.3 Erika 2nd nail biting STUFF historical (read about it here) 

And then we went from strength to strength

June 6th IM 70.3 Swiss – Xena WINS (read about it here) 

June 6th Challenge Germany – Bek Wins and James 2nd – fastest legs! (read about it here)

June 13th Challenge FRANCE - Bek was on a roll and picked up another WIN (read about it here)

June 20th T-mac grabs a training day 2nd in Dutch open champs – and a nice picture of her in the blue70 wettieJ (read about it here)

June 20th IM 70.3 UK – BELLA strikes and Tamsin in her pro debut follows in second (read about it here)

June 27th Erika grabs another second in IM France AND her slot for Kona (read about it here)

July 4th Caroline Steffen (Xena) delivers an awesome personal best performance in IM Frankfurt; second place and a slot for Kona it is only a matter of time before she climbs on the top step. (read about it here)

we love Pilar

blueseventy recently had the joy of signing Argentinian open water swimming legend Pilar Geijo to the team.  Pilar put in a gutsy performance to gain 2nd place at the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix 2010 (Capri-Napoli) in Italy, just 8 seconds behind Italian Alessandra Romitti.


Pilar dropped us a line after the race:


Hi! I am back in Argentina and wanted to tell you my excellent news!  I had an excellent performance in Italy where I was 2nd behind Italian Alessandra Romitti. The race took 7 hours 27 min 06 sec for me, and Alessandra 7.26.58! 


The race was really hard!!! I had an accident in the middle of the race when the boat of one of the other swimmers crashed into my head, making me lose my contact lens (thanks to God I had on my boat one spare pair of goggles with graduated lenses)!!


I'm very happy not only for the final result, but also to overcome all the obstacles.  Thanks a lot for all your support!! I'm very happy to be in blueseventy team!!


This result has allowed me to retain my No. 1 world ranking.  Anyway the circuit has not finished yet and I will continue to train hard so I can give my best on the next challenges.



Warm Regards!!!
Pili

You can read the press release announcing the signing of Pilar here.