Xena conquers China

Team TBB's Caroline Steffen (aka Zena) has been doing a bit of globe trotting on her lead up to Kona with a trip to China for the ITU Long Distance race in Weihai. Judging by her blogg it's been a fantastic trip... although we're glad she didn't need to use the 'support vehicle' - I'd take my chances walking back. (Click here to see her blogg and great travel pics)

Xena dominated the majority of the race consisting of a 3k swim, 80k bike and 20k run.

Coming out of the swim a little over a minute down on the leader in a swim time of 40:09 once Steffen boarded her bike she was soon out in front and untouchable. Posting a sizzling bike split of 2:01:04 over the 80k course, when Steffen rolled into T2 she had carved out a 13minute lead which would only grow.

Out on the run and the current World Long Course Champion increased her lead with a handy 1:21:24 run split, the quickest of the day. Crossing the line on a total time of 4:03:40 second place was sixteen minutes back.

We're looking forward to seeing Caroline in action in Kona in just a little under two weeks from now. She'll be lining up in the Pro Womens field with fellow Team TBB mates Rebekah Keat, Amy Marsh, Donna Phelan, and Tereza Marcel, as well as Stephen Bayliss and Hiro Nishiuchi in the Pro Men.

Endurance Maximus

Tomorrow, Monday September 27th, the doors to Endurance Maximus will open to the good people and fit athletes of Kona, Hawaii. blueseventy is excited to team up with Endurance Conspiracy, Muscle Milk/CytoMax, Fuel Belt, nuun, Dunning Sportswear, Rudy Project and Inside Triathlon to present a new endurance sports lifestyle-inspired retail collective situated at the heart of triathlon's biggest race.

Created and inspired by new lifestyle clothing brand and organic t-shirt aficionados, Endurance Conspiracy, EMAX reflects the progression of the endurance lifestyle and the like-minded brands, athletes, artists, businesses and individuals that are at its forefront. The idea being, to create a hub where anyone can come and find something unique and different, all the while, feeling comfortable and inspired. EMAX is all about representing the works of those who are leading the pack in redefining a culture.

the view from front doors

“We’ve got some amazing partners and we put a lot of time and effort into building the store out,” says Endurance Maximus founder, Tony DeBoom.“Exclusive products, appearances by top professional athletes, amazing raffle-prizes and an aloha vibe, what else do you need in Kona.”

blueseventy will have new swimwear, tri-distance apparel and the entire range of goggles available for sale starting tomorrow. Then beginning Tuesday, October 5th our new WTC legal swim skin, the PZ3TX, will be available for pick up for those who have pre-ordered the suit.

See you at Endurance Maximus!

Endurance Maximus Triathlon Emporium
75-5703 Ali’i Drive, Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 (Emma’s Marketplace)
Open Daily from 10am to 8pm

one tough cookie

Meet Bryall McPherson. She’s one tough chick.

Not one to let a small matter like losing her arm to bone cancer get her down, the 20 year old kiwi decided to take up swimming and is now training hard to achieve her goal of Paralympic gold. We’re stoked to be able to support Bryall, and plus, her fantastic attitude and her constant new PB's are a great reminder to stop your whinging and just get on with training!

Byrall already holds a number of NZ Paralympic Records for 100 Freestyle (1.19.15), 50m butterfly (36.85), and more look to come with unofficial records achieved at a recent level 2 SC meet in Auckland in the 50m butterfly (36.82) 100m butterfly (1.23.35).

Her recent outing to the 2010 Queensland short course championships (28th - 29th August 2010) also saw her leave the event with three more medals;

50 SC Metre Butterfly Multi-Class 36.89 (Gold)
50 SC Metre Freestyle Multi-Class 35.69 (Silver)
50 SC Metre Backstroke Multi-Class 42.08 (Silver)

To find out more about Bryalls amazing story, check out this piece from Asia Downunder.

See us at Interbike

team blueseventy is packing up to head to the center of the cycling universe - the annual Interbike expo in Las Vegas. We'll be showing off our awesome products and offering sneak peeks at the cool new gear for 2011. Based on the above photo it's safe to say blueseventy is no longer just making athletes swim faster...

All next week if you work in the industry or just hanging out at the show please come on by booth 659 and say Hi to the team!

Gina Crawford sets new course record at IM Wisconsin

blueseventy athlete Gina Crawford pulled out a stunning victory at IM Wisconsin on the weekend, setting new course records along the way.

Gina dropped us an email today with her race report:

Hi blueseventy,
I am happy that I won Ironman Wisconsin in the weekend, setting a new course record by about 10 minutes, which was actually my own course record set back in 2007.

I wore the new Helix suit which I love with the flexible arms. The second half of the swim was crazy as we had to pass what seemed like thousands of age groupers and then we had to get over the other side of them to swim to the exit while they turned around another buoy to do another lap.

I lost the pack amongst the mess but after a quick transition (a very long run up a car park ramp to get to the transition) I was in the lead and stayed there all day. I broke the bike course record and came off the bike with a 13 minute lead and then hung in there on the run.

So I am super happy to be back in shape and in form again after a long winter where I got pretty unfit. I then had spent August in Australia and I felt like I was in good shape for this race.

I now will travel to Hawaii tomorrow and I hope to see you there soon. I caught up with Guy in the weekend and he was telling me all about the new swim suits. Can't wait to try them out!

Cheers,

Gina

Gina posted a bike time of 5.12.50 which put her in a great position to set a new course record of 9.27.26, nearly 10mins quicker than her previous course record she set in 2007. “I felt great coming out of the swim... My race plan is always when I feel good I just push it as hard as I can and I was really happy with my bike. Then I got to the run and finished with a pain in my side with 10 miles to go so I was really happy.”

You can read the full race report on Ironman.com

the rush is on

After only 7 days of accepting pre-orders for our new WTC legal swim skin, the PZ3TX, the men's size small is no longer available for pre-order. We do have men's XS & Medium sizes still available but in limited quantities. You can find the PZ3TX size chart here.

We will be bringing our stock of PZ3TX suits to Kona and distributing them to pre-order buyers throughout the week leading up to Ironman World Championships at Maximus Endurance.

The PZ3TX is blueseventy's fully textile, welded version of the pointzero3, designed to meet the regulations of FINA & WTC. blueseventy continues to set the standard others will try to follow in triathlon swimskins. Using the latest in microfiber textile technology, the PZ3TX draws on years of high performance swimming product development combined with the most recent developments in textile research.

Don't be left behind. Click here to pre-order your PZ3TX for Kona now.

pz3TX and ready for Kona!

Lucy Gossage set a course record of 4:14. 47 at the Vitruvian (half iron distance). The cancer doctor, who splits her time between Cambridge and Nottingham, has got her eyes on Kona. She set Britain’s best female age group Ironman time for two years in Frankfurt (9:53.28) and has received welcome support from bluseventy - she'll be wearing the new pz3TX swimskin in Kona!

“So Hawaii is looming and I’m really starting to get excited. It’s a funny time training wise as everyone else is winding down at the end of the season while I’m building for my biggest race of the year. And trying to think about how on earth I can get used to the heat while the nights are drawing in and the weather is gradually getting colder.....

“Luckily I’ve had a few really fun weekends over the last month, which have helped keep me motivated. The first was the Outlaw Triathlon which I raced as the cyclist in a relay team with two friends Lou (Collins) and Helen (Gorman); the second was the National Club Relays a couple of weeks later. Both are amazing events in my home town of Nottingham with incredible support and to me summed up what triathlon is all about – fun.

“Winning the club relays with TFN teammates Lou, Fez and Amy was probably my proudest moment in triathlon. We’d been talking about having a team for a year or so but Amy (Parkinson) and Fez (Verity Butler) had been injured so never thought it would happen. They were both still injured (Amy had a stress fracture in her foot!!) but decided to race anyway... We all gave 200% in every part of the race and to win such a big event with a team of true friends was a pretty amazing moment. I was on a high all week after it!

“Last weekend I raced the Vitruvian at Rutland Water, a race I’ve done twice before which I always enjoy. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel on race day as I had come off a massive block of training with only five days to recover. Fortunately it seemed to be my day and I had what was probably the race of my life, though I’m still in a state of disbelief and keep thinking they must have got the times muddled up somehow.

“Anyway it’s now just five weeks till Hawaii – so just a couple more weeks training and then time to taper, fly out there and do the best I can. I’ve got no expectations of doing well out there but am really excited about the opportunity to race there once more – and am determined to go out there, enjoy it and throw everything I have at the race on race day. Not long now!!”