The Celebrity Issue

 

Kate Middleton's Sell-Out dress
at Wimbledon
Photo: PA

So earlier this week we heard that Kate Middleton wore some fancy dress to Wimbledon, and such is her fashion prowess that the dress sold out online within days at a whopping £395 (great bargain really seeing as it was down from £795?!?).

Then we got an email from our friends in Ireland with some 'papped' pics of boyzone band member and Coro Street star Keith Duffy competing in a triathlon in our Reaction wetsuit and TriDistance apparel.

We're hoping that these pictures will have the "Kate Middleton" affect, especially as our product is only £250 at the most! We're braced and ready for the influx of orders - best get in now!!

In from Anna Cleaver

Anna Cleaver is proving to be a force over any distance .

She's turning into a regular podium placer and one to really watch in any distnace race.
An ex swimmer, she's always putting the other ladies under pressure from the gun.

Here's a quick note from Anna on her recent race at the 5150 in the UK and her busy schedule following the race. ....

Hello from Liverpool .

UK's 5150 (non drafting Olympic distance) race was today. I got 2nd to Liz Blatchford. Liz is an amazing athlete and lovely lady. Liz has been doing this sport for over 10 years and is one of the best, so it was an honour to race her.

I have to admit that I wasn't 100% going in, having not recovered too well since the half ironman so I didn't feel on top of my game today, but very happy with the result none the less.

I gained some valuable points towards qualification at the prestigous Hyvee triathlon (held in the US in September, with a $1million prize pool).

Next stop France for some training then Zurich 5150 in 2 weeks.  I also came away with a nice little trophy and the worlds biggest beer glass (trying to fit that in the bike box will not be easy..!).

Keep your eye on the prize Anna and well done on an awesome season to date. your ripping.

Pilar Geijo dominates FINA Grand Prix in Italy

Pilar is no stranger to coming first, finishing the No 1 ranked woman in last years FINA Grand Prix series, but her latest win in the 2011 series has put an even bigger smile on her constantly happy face.

The 36km race held in Italy from Capri to Napoli is set against a beautiful backdrop and offers sometime challenging conditions to the swimmers. It has a long history, with the event starting in the 1950’s, more as a festival of the sea called “La Settimana Motonautica” which included a variety of different water sports. Because of its long history, Pilar has always wanted to win the race that is a favorite for open water swimmers.

But it wasn’t going to be an easy day for the swimmers. Rough sea conditions meant swimmers had to deal with waves and chop throughout the crossing. Pilar decided to swim with the men for the first three hours in order to give herself as big an advantage over her female competitors as possible.

The tactic worked, and Pilar finished in 7 hours 34 minutes - a solid 37 minutes in front of Esther Nuñez from Spain (8 hours 11 minutes), with Alessandra Romitti from Italy (8 hours 21 minutes) in third place.

“This is my first time that I win this race in Italy and it really is a dream come true.
I am the second Argentina woman to get the victory in the history of this race, the first was Angela Marchetti in 1973, and 38 years later an Argentina women won this race again! I’m very proud to get this title for Argentina and for blueseventy team!”

“I really enjoyed the race, and I really enjoyed being able to share the result with my family. This time my father came with me in the boat, because my coach couldn’t travel to Italy, so it was my father who guided me during the race.
This day (19 June) was Fathers Day in Argentina, so I was really pleased that I could dedicated this victory to him on his day!

Pilar is currently ranked No. 1 in the nine-race series with 4 races remaining, 9 points ahead of 2nd ranked Swimmer Esther Nunez Of Spain. You can check out more about FINA Open Water racing here.

Brownlee Wins Again

Alistair Brownlee is a machine.





The conditions in Kitzuhel were wet and cold , Although that didnt seem to effect a charging Alistair Brownlee as the 23 year old brit destroyed the field just two weeks after winning the Madrid round of the WCS.  This puts Brownlee on top of the points table ahead of Gomez and brother Jonothan Brownlee.

Alistair Brownlee lead out of the water in his blueseventy Helix , then went on to break away on the bike with two others to have the top bike split of the day, to top off those efforts he ran his way to victory. um... WOW.....sums that up!!! To lead start to finish in any race is a massive achievement , But to lead start to finish in a WCS race is even bigger!!!

Brownlee said that the conditions weren't to bad and while some suffered due to the cold ,
Alistair quotes “It wasn’t all difficult to be honest, I don’t think the conditions had that much of effect on me until the last couple of laps of the run,” he said. “I knew I had a decent lead and I knew I was racing next weekend (at the 2011 European Championships) so I kind of didn’t push on too much and I think that kind of hurt, and I think maybe I should have pushed on, I might have stayed a bit warmer.”

At 23 he's only going to get quicker!!! scary!!

3 x 70.3 Update

It seems we are into the heavy part of the season with lots of great racing happening on most weekends 

This weekend was no exception with three 70.3's on in the States alone. 

First up was 70.3 Boise .

Boise has a very relaxed start time of 12 midday. This makes for an interesteing morning. Wake up isn't the usuall 4am . it's back to sane hours of 7:30am.. Which is fantastic.

The mens race saw Ben Hoffman return to form with a dominate performance on the bike. It was only the early leader from the water blueseventys Kyle Leto that Hoffman had to catch before he was clear of all rivals . Ben rode hard and managed to have a 5min lead over the chasers come T2. 

From there Hoffman put in a solid 1:18 run to take the victory here in Boise. A great performance . Well done Hoff. 

The womans race was  a bit more closely forth with Magali Tisseyre’s taking the win. Tisseyre put together a very good swim, bike and run combo to give her a winning margin of 2:13 over Ironman St George Winner Heather Wurtele who put up a great fight today to finish in second place. 

RESULTS

1. Ben Hoffman  3:52:41
2. Nicholas Thompson  3:54:48
3. Jeff Symonds  3:55:26
4. Paul Ambrose  3:57:50
5. Jesse Thomas  3:59:06
6. Trevor Wurtele  4:01:02
7. Matt Lieto  4:01:27
8. Guy Crawford 4:02:34
9. Matt Shryock  4:05:08
10. Karl Bordine 4:06:39

Women

1. Magali Tisseyre  4:18:28
2. Heather Wurtele 4:20:41
3. Rachel McBride  4:22:14
4. Heather Jackson 4:26:06
5. Michelle Wu  4:26:54
6. Uli Bromme  4:28:40
7. Haley Scott-Cooper  4:31:51
8. Charisa Wernick 4:32:24
9. Kate Bevilaqua  4:35:18
10. Annie Warner 4:37:07

70.3 Kansas

BIG shout out our athlete and friend Paul Matthews for taking the win here in Kansas. 

Paul and fellow blueseventy athlete Luke Bell ( who is also having a fantastic few weeks of racing ) came out of the swim together and then blistered the bike in 2:10 giving them a lead over the rest of the mens field, But on the run Matthews put together the run of his life , running 1:12:45 half marathon that brought him to the line in 3:49:44 Bettering second place by 6-minutes. It was david Kahn who crossed the line for second and Bell for third. 

Onto the Womans race and it was Leanda cave ( blueseventy ) who lead from the water . From the swim Leanda had a52sec lead on her main rival and favorite Chrissie Wellington. Cave put up a great fight on the bike gaining a futher 2mins on the bike to Wellington This extended her lead into T2 by 3mins.  Cave then Put together the seond fasest run slit of the day, But at the half way put of the run it was Wellington her took controll of the race . Wellington ran a smoking fast 1:16:41 to take the win in Kansas for the third staight year in a row. 

Well done to all our athletes and all the competitors. 

RESULTS

1. Paul Matthews  3:49:44
2. David Kahn  3:55:46
3. Luke Bell  3:56:13
4. Romain Guillaume 3:59:17
5. Joe McDaniel 4:00:53
6. Andres Castillo 4:03:22
7. Brent Poulson 4:04:18
8. Joe Umphenour 4:05:18
9. Tony White 4:05:56
10. Torsten Abel 4:06:33

Women

1. Chrissie Wellington  4:11:08
2. Leanda Cave 4:15:13
3. Whitney Garcia 4:27:17
4. Madeline Oldfield 4:29:18
5. Jackie Arendt  4:32:39
6. Lesley Paterson 4:33:05
7. Tami Ritchie 4:34:27
8. Lauren Capone 4:38:26
9. Sarah Piampiano 4:42:42
10. Lesley Smith 4:42:59

Eagleman 70.3

TJ Tollakson stormed to the win at  70.3 Eagleman with a huge effort on the bike posting a 2:03:41 bike split . Mirinda Carfrae used her run strength to pull back the early leaders and take yet another title.

The men

A group of men exisited the water all within striking dostaoce of each other. it wasn't utill TJ unleashed on the bike that the mens field started to break apart. 

Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone couldn't response to the race pace today after having only a weeks rest between halfs. The Kiwi who generally finds himself on the podium could only cruise through the run today for a 10th place finish today.

It was TJ Tollaksons 1:22 run that would take the win here today with Richie Cunningham taking second place and Stanislav Krylov rounded out the top three.

The women

Amanda Stevens was the early leader from the water in 26:05. 

From here there was some jostling on the bike , With the main contenders coming  off the bike all within 5mins of each other. Knowing Mirindas run speed the other ladies could only put up a fight for so long until the 2010 IM world Champ took controll and ran her way to yet another victory. 

RESULTS

1. TJ Tollakson 3:54:39
2. Richie Cunningham 3:57:43
3. Stanislav Krylov 3:58:13
4. Matty Reed 3:59:42
5. James Bowstead 4:00:27
6. Mike Caiazzo 4:00:30
7. James Cotter 4:02:19
8. Matias Palavecino 4:05:11 * AG M30-34
9. Kyle Pawlaczyk 4:06:13
10. Terenzo Bozzone 4:07:32

Women

1. Mirinda Carfrae 4:15:31
2. Tyler Stewart  4:21:28
3. Samantha Warriner  4:23:02
4. Tenille Hoogland  4:23:38
5. Amanda Stevens  4:23:56
6. Kristin Andrews 4:32:10
7. Desiree Ficker  4:33:33
8. Annie Gervais 4:33:43
9. Kristin White  4:36:57
10. Beth Shutt  4:38:11 

Comment on this article

Jennings heading to Shanghai

blueseventy athlete Christine Jennings finished 2nd place today at the National 10K Open Water Swimming Championships in Fort Lauderdale, FL securing her spot on the USA team for the FINA World Championships in Shanghai next month. Worlds will serve as a direct qualifier for the 10K open water event for the 2012 Olympics.

Conditions were rough as eventual winner Eva Fabian & Christine pushed the pace for most of the four lap, 2.5K course while battling 3-foot whitecaps. By the last lap the 40+ field was down to seven. Rounding the last buoy it was a three women race and that's when Eva and Christine sprinted for the finish. Only two seconds separated the two ladies. Eva will be starting her freshman year at Yale in the fall. Christine is a former Minnesota Gopher. Christine won the gold medal at 2010 Pan Pacific 10K Championships and swims anywhere from 8,000-14,000 yards a day. In the men's race Harvard University's Alex Meyer and Michigan's Sean Ryan earned spots on the Worlds team.

Follow Christine's journey on Twitter @CJennings303

A Big Weekend Of Racing

We had it all this weekend


ITU WCS Madrid
70.3 Honu
70.3 Mooseman
70.3 Switzerland
Escape from Alcatraz
Rev3 Quassy
Challenge Cairns


Plus a few i will have missed. Needless to say it's the biggest race day to date for 2011.




ITU Madrid


Can anyone stop Paula Findlay this year? She is on fire.
Winning her second ITU WCS race out of as many races for 2011.
She exited the swim near the front , Stayed in the lead group through-out the bike and then ran with the Andrea Hewitt and Helen Jenkins before dropping all challengers in the last Kilometer... Another impressive performance by a very talented young lady.
Findlay quotes "“I can’t even describe it, it doesn’t feel like it at all, I still feel like an underdog every time I come into these races and I am still starstruck by seeing the Emmas and everyone, so it’s just amazing to be winning them. I’m very happy.”


Very down to earth attitude.. Nice one Paula


Results and video below care of ITU Website


http://wcs.triathlon.org/news/article/paula_findlay_unstoppable_in_madrid

1.PAULA FINDLAYCAN02:03:46


2.HELEN JENKINSGBR02:03:49


3.EMMIE CHARAYRONFRA02:03:58


4.ANDREA HEWITTNZL02:04:00


5.BARBARA RIVEROS DIAZCHI02:04:43


6.KATE MCILROYNZL02:04:57


7.SARAH GROFFUSA02:05:28


8.LAURA BENNETTUSA02:05:33


9.SVENJA BAZLENGER02:05:35


10.RACHEL KLAMERNED02:05:58



70.3 HONU


Our boy backs it up after taking 3rd at Ironman Texas a few weeks back . 
Luke was 3rd from the water

Bell was in the middle of the Lieto Sandwich off the bike with Chris Lieto in front by 2mins and younger brother Matt Lieto 2mins down. The Lieto brothers were hoping Bell didn't pack his run legs this morning. 
How-ever Belly had packed his legs and soon passed Chris Lieto for the lead, from there Bell took control and didn't look back , Taking the win here in Honu. 
Lukes had his ups and downs in the sport over the years , But he's back in top shape and proving he's a force over any distance. 
Well done Luke . you ripped it up. 


While in the Womans race it was local legend Bree Wee who took the honors..Although she did say it wasn't her best day out there. The race came down to the wire. However Bree toughed it out and took the title . So no-one can argue with that. Well done Bree...




1. Luke Bell  3:58:14 
2. Chris Lieto 4:021:32
3. Matt Lieto  4:05:25
4. Ian Mikelson  4:11:21
5. Tim Marr 4:12:16


1. Bree Wee  4:42:32
2. Elly Franks  4:46:46
3. Christine Fletcher  4:46:54
4. Emma Garrard  4:52:24


70.3 Mooseman


One tough duel saw Maxim Kriat of the Ukraine win over Paul Ambrose " Australia" by just seconds. 
The two Swum, biked and ran together for all but the last part of the run where Kriat used his speed to take the victory over Ambrose. Rounding out the top 3 was Uk's Tom Lowe with a 1:16 run split. 


In the womans race it was Lesley Patterson who took the win over quick running Caitlin Snow by a little over a mintue. 
Patterson used her super bike split to give her the buffer she'd need to hold off Snow who ran a 1:18:20 . 
Rounding out the top three was Melanie McQuaid. The Xterra queen is proving that she's good on and off road. !!

1. Maxim Kriat  4:02:04 2. Paul Ambrose  4:02:11
3. Tom Lowe  4:09:23
4. Raynard Tissink  4:14:15
5. Zach Ruble 4:15:18
6. Nick Waninger  4:18:01

1. Lesley Paterson  4:30:58 2. Caitlin Snow  4:31:46
3. Melanie McQuaid  4:49:29
4. Amber Ferreira  4:349:33
5. Jessie Donavan  4:51:51

Escape from Alcatraz

This was always going to be a great race. The line up was stacked and all eyes were going to be on 3 time winner Andy Potts and double Olympic Medalist Bevan Docherty 

Potts Known for his super strong swim was second out of the water behind Dustin Mclarty. 

From there Pott's put in a great bike split to give himself a 2min buffer over Docherty. 

Docherty then pulled back 91sec during the run to get within 34sec's of Potts. 

But it wasn't enough on the day Pott's took the win over Docherty and Chrabot. 

                                                                    
Bevan on the run

The woman's swim reflected that of the mens with Sister Sara Mclarty leading the woman from the water. Sara wearing her blueseventy Helix wetsuit

Then it was Leanda Cave and Nicky Samuels ( both blueseventy athletes ) together from the water in 2nd and 3rd. Out onto the bike and Nicky opened up and started to pull away from Cave .

Onto the run Nicky showed why she won the ITU world cup in Mooloolaba earlier this year. Posting the quickest woman's run split of the day in 50:52. 

Well done Nicky .... call us impressed yet again!!

1. Andy Potts  1:59:45 2. Bevan Docherty  2:00:19
3. Matt Chrabot  2:00:25
4. Jesse Thomas  2:03:34
5. Brian Fleischmann  2:06:12

1. Nicky Samuels 2:13:13
2. Leanda Cave 2:17:34
3. Becky Lavelle  2:19:21
4. Lindsey Jerdonek 2:22:20
5. Jenna Parker  2:25:39

REV3 Quassy

Another great race. Seeing TBB athlete James Cunnama take the win over Bozzone,  Gambles and our one of our favoite athletes Paul Matthews....a.k.a Barny

The main contenders were split on the bike . Cunnama posted a very quick 2:16:24 bike split second only to Andrew Starykowicz . However it wasn't to be Starykowicz day as he faded on the run and Cunnama soon took the lead . Behind it was Bozzone and gambles running together and Matthews close behind. 

Cunnama managed to hold off the chasing pair for the win , while Bozzone showed he's a class act taking second. ( Bozzone has had 5 weeks off proper run training with a nagging injury.) Gambles took the final place on the podium. While Matthews had to settle for 4th . ( the top 4 men were seperated by 1:21 !!! )

The womans race was a Julie Dibens hammer fest ... Dibens used her swim bike strengths to take a 6min advantage by T2. Reigning IM world Champion Carfrae tried to use her amazing run to bridge the gap , But Dibens had everything in control and cruised to a 3min victory. 

1. James Cunnama  3:59:17
2. Terenzo Bozzone  3:59:29
3. Joe Gambles 3:59:48 4. Paul Matthews  4:00:38
5. Matt Reed  4:01:19

1. Julie Dibens  4:23:37
2. Mirinda Carfrae  4:26:24
3. Angela Naeth  4:30:52
4. Liz Blatchford 4:32:11
5. Heather Jackson  4:36:16