Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Gina Ferguson interview on Slowtwitch



ST: How did your Ironman Hawaii race go for you? What were your expectations?

Gina: It was my first time racing Hawaii so I didn’t know what to expect but I was really excited to be there and saw it as a great learning experience for the years to come. I knew the conditions would probably be the toughest I have ever faced in a race so far and in this it lived up to my expectations. I had a good swim coming out with the lead women. I wasn’t very happy with how I cycled. I felt very flat during the race and I struggled with the cross winds. The run was mixed. I felt very, very good for the first ¾ of the run and was able to run my way from about 15th off the bike to 7th. The last stage was agony for me however as I got very bad cramps in my stomach and lost one place and finished in 8th. I was a little bit disappointed as I have always been very strong in the last 10km and so I was saving myself for this part of the race. However my goal had been a top 10 finish and so 8th was great. The best part is I learned so much from the race and I am now very determined and motivated to improve upon those things.


For the complete interview go to slowtwitch

Monday, December 22, 2008

blueseventy becomes U.S. Masters Swimming Sponsor

December 21, 2008 - U.S. Masters Swimming is pleased to announce that starting January 1, 2009 blueseventy will become an Official Gold Medal Partner of U.S. Masters Swimming. The multi-year partnership will see blueseventy become the official swim skin of U.S. Masters Swimming which will feature event signage, presence on www.usms.org, a special member discount purchase program, co-branding promotion at blueseventy triathlon supported events and a season long print advertising sponsor in SWIMMER magazine.

"We're very pleased to be able to put something back into Masters swimming - investing in swimming is something that blueseventy is very serious about. The U.S. Masters Swimming community is tremendously loyal and we look forward to helping each member meet his or her objectives," commented Roque Santos, blueseventy V.P. Swimming and a USA Olympian. Roque, a U.S. Masters Swimming member and Masters competitor continues, "the Masters swimming community has been a big supporter of blueseventy for several years, helping us to launch our 'Nero' suit, so we're excited to support their workouts, competitions, clinics and workshops."

Rob Butcher, U.S. Masters Swimming executive director commented "blueseventy has become a commonly seen brand at many of our competitions. We are thrilled to have their global brand committed to giving back to our membership. Their member incentive program we are developing extended exclusively to U.S. Masters Swimming members will more than pay for ones entire year membership. In addition, their desire to promote U.S. Masters Swimming at open water and triathlon events they sponsor will really help extend, grow and strengthen our brand."


About U.S. Masters Swimming

U.S. Masters Swimming, founded in 1971, is a membership operated national governing body that promotes adult health, fitness and wellness through aquatics. It does so by partnering with more than 700-adult swim clubs across the country that offer swim/fitness programs, promotes information via a bi-monthly member magazine and www.usms.org, and sanctions and promotes pool, open water and virtual competitions. Nearly 50,000-adults are registered members of U.S. Masters Swimming.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

go team blueseventy!


Here we have blueseventy's Events Manager, Shawn Lucas, from Seattle competing in the Harbor Lights Spring Triathlon, just north of Chicago.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

blueseventy's Roque'n Rollin'


Roque Santos (right), our ex-Olympic swimmer and nero VP of sales, takes a dip in his helix wetsuit with his ex- College roommate, Todd Robinson under the monumental Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Ute Muckel in action


Thanks to Benjamin in Germany, he's sent us this cool picture of our athlete Ute Muckel in the pointzero3+. Superb!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

blueseventy nero's torture test!

by Glenn Mills; Dec 15, 2008

When I first took hold of my BlueSeventy, I didn't anticipate how the swimming world was going to be turned upside down by these suits. A day doesn't go by without someone high up in the swimming profession writing, or talking about, how these suits have changed the sport...and hardly any have talked about how they've changed the sport for GOOD.

The most recent comments about the suits express the opinion that they're enabling too many records to be set. The swimming "purists,"as they've labeled themselves, are totally against them, stating that they're going to bankrupt teams and be the end of the sport. Well, as of today, they're legal, being used, and people continue to purchase them. While any article written about these suits is sure to generate controversy, and while we can start a conversation in the forum about the pros and cons of the suits, what I'm giving here is merely a report for those who are going to purchase one of these suits, and what they can expect.

Whenever you spend $400 on ANY swim-related item, you want to make sure it will do certain things.
1) Make you feel better in the water.
2) Make you go FASTER in the water.
3) Last for more than a few swims.

Again, PURISTS BEWARE!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! The BlueSeventy will absolutely accomplish the first two items on my short list of three considerations. Should that be legal? Forum posts, please. :)

Item #3... "last for more than a few swims"... is a big one for many people, and I'm here to give you a report on what my BlueSeventy has been through over the past 8 months. I can hear someone already... 8 months... and the suit looks like THAT?!?!?! Read on...

I took hold of my suit back in May for a Masters meet. I've written about my swims, and I can tell you, the swims were eye opening. I had SUCH a good time swimming that fast again. It was fun... and fun is good... right? I mean, I'm a Masters swimmer now. It's not as if I was going to make any money, or get a scholarship. It was just fun.

Shortly after that meet, I had an assignment that required me to spend 4-5 hours a day in the water filming. The water was competitive-level cold, and I wasn't going to be moving a lot. I needed to be able to stay under for extended periods without SCUBA gear, so I couldn't be too buoyant but really was looking for some additional insulation. BLUESEVENTY to the rescue.

I was in and out of the suit all day... and in and out of hot showers. I knew the suit was supposed to be used just for swimming fast, but the athletes I was filming were pretty fast, and I had to do something to keep up, so I figured that counted. Overall the suit was pretty saturated with water from day to day, but dried out well and was ready to go back in service the next day, or later the same day. What I discovered about this suit is that I'm able to take it off easily, and put it back on wet. This meant I didn't have to sit around in it all day at a Masters meet... unless I just wanted to look GOOD (i.e., slimmer).

Since then, the suit has been brought out of storage for multiple drills and video shoots, ESPECIALLY those in which I wanted to be in front of the camera. I've even worn it for a few practices to see if my current training has been effective. I love swimming practices in the suit because I have a better shot of keeping up with my younger swimmers.

One of my high school-aged swimmers has tried multiple full-body suits, and has found none that he likes. He feels too constricted, like he can't breathe, so no matter how much convincing I've tried to do, he simply wouldn't swim in one. A couple months ago, he sent me a text and asked if I had a set of "pants" he could try at practice. I figured it was a good opportunity to get him to try my BlueSeventy. Besides, I wanted to see if it had the same impact on him that it had on me. I designed a set for him for morning practice in which he'd do
part of the set in his drag suit... then get out, change into the "pants" he'd requested, and repeat the set. When he got out after the second round, I surprised him and pulled out the BlueSeventy and told him to wear it for the 3rd time through. It took only one 100 for him to finish with a smile on his face. He wore it for the rest of
practice, then at his meet that night. This swimmer is 6'1", while I'm 5'10"... so he was STRETCHING my suit as well.

I wore it a few more times at college practice, and for more filming. One of the college swimmers asked for help on his breaststroke, and through the course of working together, I decided to have him try my BlueSeventy. He put on the suit and proceeded not only to swim faster in practice, but also to make the stroke changes we had worked on.

When it came time to order suits for the college team, everyone was wondering which to order. While I didn't have access to any other suit than the BlueSeventy, I at least wanted to allow as many of them to try it as possible. While I avoid recommending suits to my swimmers, I do try to give them the opportunity to test something. On one day at practice, approximately ten different swimmers put on, swam in, and took off my BlueSeventy. These are BIG guys! The suit was starting to show some wear... the ankles were becoming a bit looser, and were starting to fray. Man... some of them have HUGE feet!

Test after test, swim after swim, there wasn't ONE swimmer who returned after his first 50 without a smile on his face. While the BlueSeventy was being tortured, it was still effective. Through the stretching, twisting, and arranging of the material, finally, a tear started to appear in the neck. Now the question was... do I allow them to TRASH my suit, or save it for myself? That question was answered very quickly because the swimmers are ALWAYS more important than the coach. Put it on another swimmer until it finally disintigrates.

I continued to wear the BlueSeventy occasionally for filming and practice. I figured that, at this point, its usefullness for competition had passed.

A few weeks ago, the college team traveled to a meet with its arch rival. One of our swimmers was going for a very lofty goal, and decided he was going to try the BlueSeventy. Since this was a special occasion, an order for a single suit was placed. As sometimes occurs, a mistake in shipping from the company we ordered it from happened, and as the bus was leaving the station, we were without his suit. Good thing I had Old Faithful in my bag.

Because of the rules in college swimming, we had to make sure the BlueSeventy logos were blacked out. I was following the swimmer around before and after his warm-ups, swims, and warm-downs... with a black marker doing my best to cover the logo each time. Permanent isn't always permanent on these suits... but for the short time he was racing, the logo was blacked out.

JUST before the meet started, the new suit was delivered to the pool and my "marked up" suit was now a backup. Since the suit was there, and since it was already advertising-legal, one of our other swimmers asked if he could try it. Now, this particular swimmer is one of the bigger individuals on the team. While making sure he could fit in the suit, which was now stretched beyond its original size, his warm-up went without a hitch. In his individual event, he swam a fantastic time, placed 3rd, and achieved a very high personal goal. It was
great to see the smile on his face as it always is.

Since I never know when I'm going to need my BlueSeventy, it's become a permanant fixture in my swim bag. It holds no special place on the drying rack; it's just another piece of equipment. Because of that, when a Masters friend asked me last week about his interest in the BlueSeventy, and which size he should get, and if it was worth it, I pulled the suit out of my bag and said... give it a try. This particular swimmer is 6'3". He wore it for his entire practice, smiled when he handed it back to me, and as far as I know has placed his order.

The last time the suit has been out of my bag, may have been the last time it's going to be fully functional. In our most recent college meet, the same swimmer asked if I had the suit. I pulled it out of my bag and he wore it for one of his races. He walked around in the suit the rest of the meet, until he came up to me for his final event
asking if I'd be so kind as to zip him up. As I reached for the zipper, it finally happened. After what's been estimated at nearly 70 swims by individuals of many varied sizes, a tooth broke on the zipper, and we were stuck. So we thought. Through some tugging and pulling by teammates, we were able to line up the tooth, zip up the zipper, and get him to the blocks on time. The zipper held through his 50 free, and the suit made it back into the bag.

With some nylon thread, the zipper is somewhat functional again, and the suit LIVES ON!

In my opinion, for those saying that these suits will have a negative impact on the sport because they cost too much... I say it's not the case. While I would RARELY get this many swims out of any suit I've ever used at a championship level, I found this suit to be as, if not MORE, durable than any that I've ever had. Its performance advantages aside, this thing is a great value.

I know there will be people who don't like hearing positive things about these suits. I'm not one of them. Their impact on our sport, positive or negative, will be measured in the long term. As of today,
they are legal and people are wearing them.

We can all put our feelings into the forum about the impact of these suits. As for this article, it's a thank-you letter to my BlueSeventy for hanging in there for so long. I've definitely gotten my money's
worth out of it and... with the zipper fixed... it's not dead yet.

The Moxey man diaries

Tim Moxey was interviewed on XTRI.com in a 3 part interview.



XTRI: When Ironman Wetsuits changed to blueseventy, was that just a change in name, or did things change too as a company?

Tim: Basically, as a company, we were constrained. When you looked at our competitors which were Zoot, Orca, QR, they had all broadened their range. Orca and QR were doing clothing in addition to wetsuits, and I was like ‘I’d love to do that, but I can’t,’ because we had a license for Ironman Wetsuits. And that’s not a label to put on clothing cause it sounds stupid – you can’t have an “Ironman Wetsuits” track suit – sounds a bit silly. So I felt constrained. So rather than expand into adjacent markets, I wanted to go deeper into the channel we were in, which was swim, specifically “openwater” since we made brilliant wetsuits and had a chance to really lead within that area. I wanted to make goggles, swimskins and other products for openwater…but I couldn’t expand given the licensing. By changing the name to blueseventy, it signaled that we’re not just about “Ironman”. Or “Wetsuits”. We make products that make that experience better. And for any distance triathlon. And even if you’re just a swimmer.”


Part 1 of the xtri interview: http://www.xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=5207&CAT=21&xref=xx

Part 2 of the xtri interview: http://www.xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=5213&CAT=3&xref=xx

Part 3 of the xtri interview: http://www.xtri.com/features_display.aspx?riIDReport=5216&CAT=23&xref=xx

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

2008 Ironman World Championships on NBC

NBC will broadcast the recap of the 2008 Ironman World Championships on Saturday, December 13 at 2:30 Eastern. Watch Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander again as they storm to their titles and endless other stories take place.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Introducing Mr & Mrs Bayliss

Britain’s Ironcouple and blueseventy triathletes Stephen Bayliss and Bella Comerford were married recently in the beautiful grounds of Murrayshall House in the United Kingdom. The couple married in a civil service in front of family and friends and shared a pic with us, below.

We love the cake!
Congratulations to Bella and Stephen on their marriage and also on a very remarkable year of solid results. We wish you all the best for 2009 and onwards!

The Mo results are in!

Well after a crazy month of Movember, the blueseventy-nuun team (called Rubbery Tablets) managed to raise a fantastic $1.870.00 that went to the US Prostate Cancer Foundation.
Here is a photo of some of the blueseventy team towards the end of Movember showing just how far some of them went...

L-R (back) John, Guy, Steve, Trevor, Dean, Shawn, Roque and Seth...and Sharon and Meline in the front not wanting to miss out on the fun! Not bad attempts, ladies!

Thanks to everyone for taking part and also thanks to all who donated and encouraged them!

Monday, December 8, 2008

6th World Record for blueseventy!

American swimmer Randall Bal broke the men's 50 metres backstroke world record at a meeting in Eindhoven, Netherlands last Saturday, while wearing the blueseventy nero comp.

Bal timed 24.33 seconds to break the old mark of 24.47sec set by Briton Liam Tancock at the British Olympic trials last April.

Bal, 28, last month also broke the men's short course 50 metres backstroke world record, timing 22.87 seconds to break the old mark of 23.05sec set by compatriot Peter Marshall. Bal's first world record was taken in the nero comp swimskin also.

Congrats Gina and Luke

Gina Ferguson won the 2008 Ironman Western Australia in a record time of 8:59:24, after having had the fastest swim in her blueseventy Helix wetsuit. Luke McKenzie led all the men out of the water in his blueseventy Helix wetsuit and after dealing with some technical issues during the bike segment, Luke eventually finished third.

Congrats Gina and Luke.