Feed back, VERY welcome

Had to post this one, 


It's always great to hear your product is bringing people joy and Simon is definitely having a good time using the nero TX. 




 "For me, the Nero TX Jammers are the best i've used.  The fit is nigh-on perfect meaning the compression is brilliant - consistent all-over the garment - giving the feeling of increased power and streamlining through the water.  The overall build quality of the Jammers is second-to-none, solid and sturdy but still with enough movement for all smimming strokes.  I wouldn't go back to using any other brand"


The World is swimming faster in blueseventy'  'Simon is swimming faster in blueseventy'

Busy people at Total Fittness bath report

Big thanks to Sarah from TFB, Plus our athletes for keeping us udated, Mark , Nick, and Chris cheers guys.

Calne Aquathlon, UK

Chris was looking forward to an easy race today at the Calne Aquathlon, but unfortunately he let it slip to Doug and myself.  We both popped in our last minute entries and rocked up for a team show down!!!!

Ok, so we didn't quite get the 1, 2, 3 we were hoping for, but we weren't far off.  I won with a new course record, Doug won best hair/beard combo, and Chris won fastest man wearing blueseventy hat.

Nick Beer ( The Travel Machine ) Racing in South America 

After a 19 hour flight, a stop off in Sau Paulo, I finally arrived in Santiago. With my bike bag that thankfully made it safely and in one piece, I caught a taxi to my apartment in Las Condes (the exclusive area of Santiago). My apartment was on the 17th floor and the view was outstanding. Looking to my left I could see all of Santiago and to my right, the snow cover Andes - a perfect where to relax before the first race.

The race started and about 60 athletes sprinted into the sea. A choppy and rough swim played into my hands and I came out the water as one of leading guys (5th) and was on the lead pack. The tough, hilly course caused no problems for me and I felt great. Riding up the climb with confidence and with ease; I was a different athlete. The descent cost me dearly, but practising my bike skills will solve this issue and I will be a much more competent cyclist very quickly. On to the run for the first time, in a long time - I felt great! Pushing all the way to the line and overtaking numerous amounts of athletes on my 10 km destruction path; I ended the race feeing incredibly confident and with the fastest run with a time of 32.06min, which included a 15 sec penalty. The 450m hill each lapped only aided my run and I knew, after the week I have had since my first race, I was back and now is the time that things will start happening.

Where there is a wheel there is a way !

The clock is ticking

We are almost a week away from traveling to Florida for the big race...and I am so excited, but of course nervous, as any athlete would be with any major event that is taking place. A lot of people have asked me over the past couple months, "How are you doing?"...I would be lying if I said that I am not a bit nervous, but the outpouring of support has helped in so many ways. This has truly been an incredible journey with my two "crazy bozos" and is going to be an incredible expereince come race day 05.01.11!!!

I feel nervous because I have never done anything like this before. Training for this event has been a roller coaster. Some days I feel in control, then other days, completely out of control. At the end of the day, I am 100% confident about the equipment...and most of all my brothers' strength and ability. It's awesome to say that I will become a triathlete after next weekend. Hats off to Evan and Brent, and a host of others who have made this experience incredible.


Below is a picture that I took from my wheelchair on my way home from work the other day...I often think about what drives me in life. This picture, to me, symbolizes how a dream can become a reality. As well as how an athlete is born. Thank you for your continued support and we'll see ya at the finish line!

-Kyle

need more Inspiration? check out Kyle's website http://www.race.kylepease.org and become inspired. Anythings possible, these three brothers are proof of that.

Fast Wetsuit Technique with Rasmus Henning

Our man Rasmus Henning shares his tips for a quick and stress free Helix fitting. With a personal best of 7:52:36 at the Ironman distance you might to listen!

Latest update from Rasmus after two back-to-back 2nd place finishes at the 70.3 distance: Starting to feel like I'm actually in charge of my own body again after two weeks feeling like a disillutioned 80-year-old!

Luke Mckenzie reports from New Orleans

NOT SO EASY IN THE BIG EASY!!


I was really excited to be racing the New Orleans Ironman 70.3 for the first time. On paper it looked like it ticked all the boxes for me as a race that would suit my strengths. Typically a non-wetsuit swim with a big wade in and out of the water. A flat, open, windy ride with a few short power climbs on the bike and finishing with a one way run into the city in hot, humid conditions. Well, we pretty much ended up getting none of those for Sundays race!

I arrived at transition about 1.5hrs before race start to hear the news that the swim had been cancelled due to rough water. What? Surely it can't be that bad? I went and had a look for myself and was actually pretty disappointed the race directors had made that decision. It really wasn't as bad as they were making out and I felt at least the pro's could have swum. I understand the age group athletes and the safety issue but really, we are professional and anyone lining up could have handled those conditions. Considering we were racing for prize money and valuable Kona qualification points it didn't sit well with me we were now racing a duathlon.

So the initial buzz was it was going to be a run/bike/run, something I definitely wasn't looking forward to. A short first run at the beginning on a hard 90km TT would be torture and I was relieved that the end decision was to make it a bike/run as voted by the athletes. The plan was to send us off at 30 second intervals based on our race number from lowest to highest, so being number 7 (number 1 Andy Potts didn't race) I was off about 3 minutes behind the "rabbit" Terenzo Bozzone. I was actually looking forward to this new format and with some strong riders ahead and behind me it was going to be a real test.

My start was perfect and I settled into a nice rhythm early to the first turn-a-round at about 5km. Only problem was I saw my minute man Tim O'Donnell come past in the other direction and I thought "OK not long till the turn" but as I got to the turn still no Richie Cunningham who had started only 30 seconds ahead? Approaching the turn-a-round sign I see Richie had overshot it and was a few hundred meters further down the road. This created a moment of confusion for me and I too over shot the turn by 10-20 meters having to jam on my brakes in the process. Almost starting from a full standstill I took off back on course now but soon realized my rear brake was rubbing on my Zipp disc wheel. Damn! The force of the heavy braking must have made the brake move enough to be hitting my wheel? Now going into a full blown headwind I seemed to be going nowhere. I knew after we had passed our starting point there was a series of short climbs over bridges with a quick decent on the each side and I thought if I can make it to that I could stop on the down grade of the bridge to move my brake and then quickly regain momentum on the slope. Once I reached the first bridge I quickly stopped and moved my brake off the wheel and I instantly felt my pedal stoke was much easier. Great, I was still holding off Paul Matthews who had started 30 seconds behind me and I was back in a good rhythm. Only 5km later I heard the noise of a disc wheel coming up behind me and I turned around expecting to see Paul. I thought, considering I overshot the first turn and had a quick stop to fix my brake that wouldn't be so bad. To my horror I looked to my right to see TJ Tollakson! He had started a full 90 seconds behind me! He had made up 1.5 minutes in less than 20km!!! That rattled me. I thought "wow, I must not be riding as well as I thought"? My power and speed seemed to be at good numbers and I was feeling good. Maybe I wasn't pushing hard enough, or maybe he was an an exception day? Within a few seconds TJ had passed me and I found he had also dragged both Paul and Richie up to me so now we had four guys riding together. I though "OK, you are going to have to sit with this group and once we hit the tail wind on the way home to the finish you are going to have to make your move to regain time. That proved way more difficult than I thought!

Not long after we were about to make a right turn down a street and with TJ in the lead I followed him presuming he was on course. Wrong! ANOTHER missed turn! The police officer on the corner was pointing down the wrong street and both TJ and I had to quickly corrected our course and worked to catch back up to Paul and Richie. To tell you the truth I was now getting extremely frustrated that my day was not going to plan. I found myself thinking "I hate these races directors for canceling the swim" and a lot of other negative thoughts rather than brushing them off and concentrating on my ride. I was annoyed I didn't seem to have the level of riding I had about a month ago in Abu Dhabi and San Juan and I was thinking all I want to do is be over with this bike so we could run. It definitely wasn't the right frame of mind to be racing with on this day!

At around 55km Sebastian Kienle of Germany came past me like a motor bike, yet another blow. I was doing the math and figured he must have started at least 5 minutes behind me. His riding was impressive and he clearly was the leader on the road by several minutes. I salvaged a little towards the end of the bike feeling strong again and getting back to a better head space. I was determined to have a solid run. I got off the bike with Massimo Cigana who had caught up about 2 minutes on me and I knew I had to outrun him and hopefully catch a few more guys ahead to finish in the money (top 8). It was really hard trying to figure where you layed in the placings as we ran though the city center park. There were a few little out and back sections where we could see the competition. Trying to do the math in your head to see if you were up or down on time to the rest of the field was proving hard. I got stronger and stronger as the run progress and after having only Paul Matthews run past me on his way to the second fastest run split and moving back ahead of Massimo I felt I was in contention for a decent finish. I caught Tim O'Donnell on the finish line so I knew I had taken back at least one place there. Now it was a matter of waiting and seeing how the guys behind had faired. Within about 10 minutes the final results seemed to be set. Sebastian Kienle had absolutely crushed the field, Paul Amey had secured second and Paul Matthews and ran his way from around 10th all the way to 3rd place (an amazing effort!) My bike ride had definitely cost me. With 4th-15th place all within 4 minutes I had finished in a very disappointing 13th place. Definitely no where near my expectation but I figured in an altered format taking away my swim advantage one I would have to cop on the chin.

New Orleans on a whole was a fun experience. We had a great afternoon after the race with the K-Swiss crew and fellow sponsored athletes. We had a Crawfish boil and met lot's of interesting local characters. Then we ended the night in the French Quarter checking out Bourbon Street. It was really great fun having my mum and dad there to share the weekend and see me race in the US for the first time (excluding Hawaii). I definitely want to return to the race in the future but in the hope that it will be a triathlon!

We have just landed in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii and I am looking forward to locking down a solid month of training here leading into my next race, Ironman Texas.

Swim Smooth Arm Length and Stroke rate

Paul Newsome from SwimSmooth uses Pro triathletes and blueseventy athletes Kate Bevilaqua and Guy Crawford to demonstrate how arm length and stroke rates relate to individuals in the water

For more info on Swim Smooth see  www.swimsmooth.com

Swimmers Shine at IBSA World Championships

North Shore’s  and blueseventy athlete Daniel Holt, ( featured above )Daniel Sharp (Hamilton) and Mary Fisher (Wellington) were outstanding performers in the pool as they scooped up three gold, five silver and three bronze medals in the IBSA World Championships which finished 10 April.

Sharp improved his own world record in the Men’s SB13 50m Breaststroke 30.87 secs, improving the record he set back in 2008 by 0.5 secs. Second placed Russian Mikhail Zimin was also under the world record. Sharp also won the Men’s 100m Breaststroke; silver in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke (2:36.80) and Men’s 50m Freestyle (25.21secs); and bronze in the Men’s 100m Freestyle (56.55 secs).

Holt’s performance in the 200m event was particularly exciting, with Holt coming from behind to win. He swam in third place behind two Russians for the majority of the race. Holt closed the gap at the final turn and increased his pace – at 25 metres to go Holt broke into the lead, finishing with a personal best of 2:02:43. This time smashed his existing New Zealand record by a full six seconds and set a new Oceanic record – he was just 0.22 secs outside the world record. His father Phil Holt (printdigital.co.nz) said that he was “…surprised and delighted, particularly since this wasn’t his specialty event.” Holt’s also won two silver medals – in men’s 400m freestyle (4:23.55) and the men’s 200m individual medley (2:31.59).

Completing the 11 medal haul was Mary Fisher of Wellington with silver in the 200 m freestyle and two bronze medals (100m Fly and 50m Backstroke). Fisher posted a string of personal bests, a credit to her new coach and venue.

Full details are a bit sketchy as communications have been poor – no doubt we’ll get the full picture when the team arrives back in New Zealand on Wednesday 13 March.

Full results:

Medals / times

Daniel Holt (SB13) Gold Men’s 200m Freestyle (2:02.43)

Daniel Holt (SB13) Silver Men’s 400m Freestyle (4:23.55)

Daniel Holt (SB13) Silver Men’s 200m Medley (2:31.59)

Daniel Sharp (SB13) Gold Men’s 50m Breaststroke (30.87secs)

Daniel Sharp (SB13) Gold Men’s 100m Breaststroke (1:08.41secs)

Daniel Sharp (SB13) Silver Men’s 200m Breaststroke (2:36.80)

Daniel Sharp (SB13) Silver Men’s 50m Freestyle (25.21secs)

Daniel Sharp (SB13) Bronze Men’s 100m Freestyle (56.55 secs)

Mary Fisher (SB12) Silver Women’s 200m Freestyle (2:39.48)

Mary Fisher (SB12) Bronze Women’s 100m Fly (1:20.54)

Mary Fisher (SB12) Bronze Women’s 50m Backstroke (38.46 secs)

Other places / times

Daniel Holt (SB13) 6^th Men’s 100m Freestyle (58.47 secs)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 4^th Women’s 400m Freestyle (5:31.33)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 5^th Women’s 200m Medley (2:57.46)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 5^th Women’s 50m Freestyle (32.52)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 4^th Women’s 50m Fly (34.55)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 4^th Women’s 100m Backstroke (1:23.01)

Mary Fisher (SB12) 7^th Women’s 100m Freestyle (1:13.22)

Big shout out to all our swimmers competing at the IBSA World Champs , we're proud of you all. 

70.3 New Orleans

About an hour before the race the athletes received word that the Ironman 70.3 New Orleans would be a triathlon without any swimming. High winds on Lake Pontchartrain were to blame. Instead of a collective dive into the water, the athletes started a 90k individual time trial with a 30 second-interval, followed by a half marathon.
With 750 valuable points on the line for the pro's this format was going to hurt the stronger swimmers of the field such as Dirk Bockel, Luke McKenzie , and Paul Matthews to mention a few.

Athletes getting ready for there bike-run combo

With high winds, Sebastian Kienle’s explosive 2:02:19 bike split rocketed him to a dominating victory, while Julie Dibens’ race-best 2:15:16 bike gave her all of her 76-second margin of victory over blueseventys own Samantha Warriner at what became virtually the Ironman 69.1 New Orleans.


After his race best bike performance, Kienle’s 5th-best 1:14:26 run was enough to hold off two-time ITU duathlon world champion Amey’s fastest 1:12:17 half-marathon and  blueseventy's Paul Matthews’ second-best 1:13:21 run . Kienle hit the finish of the shortened event in 3:18:08 with Amey exactly 5 minutes behind and Matthews 7:16 in arrears. 


Big congrats to all those who finished in tough windy conditions. Until the next time ...
Fingers crossed we get wet at the next one. 


RESULTS

Elite Men

1. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:18:08
2. Paul Amey (GBR) 3:23:08
3. Paul Matthews (AUS) 3:25:24
4. Richie Cunningham (AUS) 3:25:54
5. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:26:16
6. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:26:22
7. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 3:27:15
8. Matthew Russell ( ) 3:27:24
9. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 3:28:01
10. Kyle Leto (USA) 3:28:11

Elite Women

1. Julie Dibens (GBR) 3:40:15
2. Samantha Warriner (NZL) 3:41:31
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 3:44:30
4. Linsey Corbin (USA) 3:46:19
5. Tine Deckers (BEL) 3:46:23
6. Heather Jackson (USA) 3:48:32
7. Uli Bromme (USA) 3:48:56
8. Sonja Tajsich (GER) 3:50:00
9. Sofie Goos (BEL) 3:52:11
10. Amy Kloner (USA) 3:53:09

busy weekend

Cameron Dye wins the Lifetime Fitness South Beach Triathlon

If last weekend is any indicator the 2011 triathlon season is definitely here. The always exciting ITU World Championships Series got underway in Sydney while Chrissie Wellington broke long distance records in South Africa. The dominant University of Colorado Triathlon Team repeated at USAT Collegiate National Championships and blueseventy is happy to be supporting three of the top five collegiate clubs. U.S. 70.3 Pro Championships took place in Texas with Chris Lieto taking a very deserving win while our man Rasmus Henning backed up an impressive second place at Oceanside 70.3 with a another strong second place in Texas. Scotland's Cat Morrison, a multiple Duathlon World Champion and blueseventy athlete, took control on the run and was first women across the finish line in Texas. But the performance of the weekend has to go to Cameron Dye. Why? Well he did beat the likes of Andy Potts, Filip Ospaly, Michael Weiss and Andrew Yoder at the Lifetime Fitness South Beach Triathlon, but that's not the real reason. More importantly Cam found out that he is soon to be a father! That is one way to back up a win! We wish Cam and Natalie the best and of course fast racing this season! Hey, he's off to a good start!

Cat Morrison wins 70.3 Texas

blueseventy is proud to announce that Sara McLarty has joined the team in 2011. Sara was first female and fourth pro, male or female, out of the Atlantic on Sunday in South Beach. She finished 7th in the pro division. A former Gator swimmer and Olympic Trails qualifier we're super stoked to have an athlete of Sara's caliber racing in our product and providing crucial feedback on how to improve our wetsuit and swim skins. She's also organizing a 2 mile swim in central Florida slated for April 23rd. Click here for more information on the first annual Swim Across Minneola.

And finally we'd like to send a congratulations to Blaire Johnson of Florida who won our Get Balanced Facebook sweepstakes. She was the lucky winner of an Axis wetsuit. Her response: "I can't even tell you how excited I am to have been announced the winner of the wetsuit. I was in an aquarium shop buying some new plants and fishies for my tank at home, when I recieved the notification email; I let out a huge squeal and bounced in circles." Stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter feeds for more upcoming contests for your chance to win!

Get Balanced!

We had such a blast spreading the good word about balanced buoyancy at last weekend's 70.3 Oceanside that we decided to award one lucky winner $1,000 of a blueseventy pro kit (wetsuit, warm ups, apparel, swim wear, transition bag, goggles, gear, swag, etc.). Above you can see the video featuring Thomas Johnson of Tri Club San Diego and blueseventy's Naomi Fergusson & Dean Jackson where we announced Kevin O'Neil as the winner! Kevin stopped by the booth, tried on some suits, entered the contest and went on his merry way. His response when we notified him: "This was completely unexpected." Be sure to stop by the blueseventy booth at select Ironman and 70.3 events this year for the opportunity to enter another giveaway!
Tri4Japan is a charity established by Mike Trees to help the people of Kamaishi, a town in Japan devastated by the recent earthquake and tsunami. We've been moved by Mike's cause and we wanted to help support him & Tri4Japan in Oceanside. We asked our athlete Rasmus Henning to come up on stage and along with Eric Gilsenan we auctioned off an Axis Wetsuit. It was a great opportunity to notify the public about Tri4Japan and help raise money for the cause. The $550 Axis started at $100 and was eventually auctioned off for $330! To learn more about Tri4Japan and to donate visit www.tri4japan.com

After a successful weekend and exciting race (Potts vs. Rasmus! Carfrae vs. Heather Jackson!) we're so pumped that the 2011 race season has kicked off we can't wait until the next event to raffle off another prize so we decided to launch a giveaway exclusively through our Facebook page. Enter at facebook.com/blueseventy for your chance to win!