Monday, April 30, 2012

Unstoppable CU



The 2012 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships occurred last week and once again the blueseventy sponsored team from the University of Colorado Boulder took home the men's team, women's team and overall team title for an unprecedented 13th time. The team's motto of "The team that trains together, wins together" was in full force under the skillful coaching of D3 Multisport's Mike Ricci. 
We asked CU & blueseventy athlete Drew Scott, no stranger to big time events as evidence of his debut Ironman last fall at the World Championships in Hawaii and who finished 5th overall in the men's race, to share here what the atmosphere is like at this unique race.  "The race was quite an experience, definitely a different atmosphere from any other race that I've done. I guess that can be expected when there's 1300+ college students at a race!" Below is Drew's race report from Tuscaloosa. 



It has now been a little over a week since I arrived home after traveling to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for the first time to race at the Collegiate National Championships. I was very excited to finally get a chance to compete at Collegiate Nationals, and to do so with a team like CU. I was well aware of the history of the team and the numerous national titles that had been won when I joined last Fall. Heading into the race this year, I knew the strength of our team was quite good. However, at a race like Collegiate Nationals, it seems like you can never really know how well you will do because people you've never heard of can come out of nowhere.  I think everyone on our team had a bit of added confidence gained from the months training together and witnessing what each person on the team was capable of.
I had heard all sorts of stories from current teammates and others in Boulder who had competed at Nationals before. Almost every person I spoke to commented about how this race was unlike any other triathlon out there. It’s not often that you get over a thousand college students together at one event, with everyone equally as excited as you are about competing in a triathlon. The atmosphere created is certainly different from any other race I’ve ever done.  
On race morning, as people gathered at the swim start before the women’s race, team cheers began to ring out one after another. Everybody was pretty fired. Our women ended up having a phenomenal race, winning the overall and giving our men’s team a bit more inspiration before we raced. 10:30AM finally rolled around meaning the start of our race. I was with teammate Rudy Kahsar (last years champion) in wave 1, and we both were lucky enough to sneak out on the far side to find some clean water right from the gun. I felt great on the swim and just tried to bury myself to limit the gap to some of the faster swimmers in the field. As always, the Helix wetsuit felt awesome. I came out about 2 minutes down to Dustin McLarty, but very close to a large group of guys just ahead. I managed to pass probably 5 or 6 guys on the run to transition before hopping on my bike.
Onto the bike, I tried to get into some sort of a rhythm as quickly as possible and hopefully start picking some people off. I was a caught a bit off guard early in the bike when I was passed by two guys right before Rudy came rocking by at about mile 5, having already made up the 20 seconds I had on him out of the water. This seemed to give me a bit of a spark, and I knew I had to stomp on it then to remain close. I came off the bike in 4th place and about 20 seconds down to Rudy, while the gap to Dustin had unfortunately remained about the same. The run was a bit of a struggle for me as I never quite found my running legs, but after getting passed by Ryan Bice around mile 2.5 I just tried my best to hang on and was happy to cross the line in 5th place.  Our men’s team had a great day overall, with Rudy leading the charge in 2nd place, and Chris Braden and David Bobka finishing strongly in 6th and 15th.  

The awards ceremony that night was quite the party with teams dressing up in all sorts of outfits and parading around before the awards started. I think I can safely say that no other awards ceremony comes close to what it is like at Collegiate Nationals. On the flight home the following day, I caught myself already thinking about next years race and I can’t wait to give it another go. It’s awesome to see this sport growing so much in the collegiate ranks and I’m very happy to be apart of it. 
Huge congratulations to the Colorado team for the win and thank you to Drew for sharing his race report with us. Congratulations are also in order to blueseventy's other sponsored collegiate clubs: University of California at Berkeley for finishing 3rd place in the overall team race (3rd place women's team; 5th place men's team) and UCLA for finishing 5th place in the overall team race (5th place women's team).


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Win a Free Hotel Stay at USMS Summer Nationals

We've teamed up with United States Masters Swimming to offer one lucky swimmer a free four night stay at this summer's Masters National Championships in Omaha, NE from July 5-8.


Like Us & US Masters Swimming to enter for a chance to win. You must be a USMS member to qualify. Up to a $500 Value. Already booked your room? No problem, we will reimburse you up to $500.

We're looking forward to seeing some great swimming at the upcoming Spring Nationals in Greensboro, NC from April 26-29. We'll be there with our complete line of racing & training suits as well as our popular goggles and accessories. Stop by and say hi!

U.S. Masters Swimming (USMS) is a national organization that provides organized workouts, competitions, clinics and workshops for adults aged 18 and over. Programs are open to all adult swimmers dedicated to improving their fitness through swimming. To learn more visit www.usms.org

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Piloting the Helix to London 2012

In the open water, blueseventy athletes Kane Radford from New Zealand and Melissa Gorman from Australia are paving their way to London later this year.
Radford, Gorman claim State NZ Ocean Swim Series titles (photo Simon Watts)
Rotorua’s Kane Radford showed he is on target to qualify for the London Olympics after clinching the State New Zealand Ocean Swim Series this morning on the back of a victory in the final leg at Takapuna Beach on Auckland’s North Shore.
He showed true grit in overcoming the largest field of elites in the season to win the 2.8km State King of the Bays just one day after breaking Danyon Loader’s long-standing 1500m freestyle national record at the New Zealand Swimming Championships. (photo Simon Watts)
“It was really good out there; I didn’t feel too bad after the week that we’ve been through so I just wanted to get out there and try to control the race and see where we ended up,” he said.
“With these kinds of races you never really know what’s going to happen because it all happens in such a short space of time.
“It’s great to be able to win this series back to back. To win the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series is truly a title to be proud of so I’m absolutely stoked.”

Radford spent most of the 2.8km race jostling with Australian Michael Sheil and Kiwis Phillip Ryan and Casey Glover but managed to sneak away to win in 32mins 39secs, despite an energetic sprint up the beach by the Aussie; with Ryan in third.
“It was definitely one of the closest races we have had this season. I just really wanted to secure that win so I was happy just to sit right there in front of the rest, knowing that they would have to put on a big burst to be able to pass me,” said Radford, who is preparing for June’s Olympic open water qualifier in Portugal.
“Preparations for Portugal are going really well at the moment. I’ve been doing my doing my best times in the pool during the last week at the indoor championships so things couldn’t be better.”

Australian and former world champion Melissa Gorman secured the women’s overall series in perfect conditions this morning with her third win from three attempts in New Zealand waters. She finished in a sprint up the beach to head off New Zealand champion Cara Baker and defending series champion Charlotte Webby in a time of 32mins 56secs.
“It was a really nice swim out there today. It was probably the nicest conditions I’ve swam in since I’ve been in New Zealand,” she said.
“I think for me this is always one of the toughest times to be racing. We just had our national championships a couple of weeks ago and when you’re getting back into hard training after that your body goes through a bit of a adaptation phase, which can make it very hard to come out and race.”

Unlike in her previous two victories in the Bay of Islands and Wellington, the Australian did not have it all her own way this time as Baker pushed her hard, all the way to the end.
“It’s great to come away with a win today because it was a really tough race with Cara. She was up with me the whole way so it was good to have someone to push me and I’m happy to come away with the win,” said Gorman, who has already qualified for the London Olympics and is using the State Ocean Swim Series as part of her preparation.
“I’ve really loved competing in the series this year and would love to come back next year too.”
The ninth annual State King of the Bays hosted a record 1400 participants who competed across four different distance options designed to cater for all ages and abilities. They included long swims of 2.8km and 1000m, as well as a 300m race and a 200m kids’ race.
For more information and full results visit the website at www.oceanswim.co.nz.

Results:
Elite 2.8km Men: Kane Radford (Rotorua) 32:39, 1; Michael Sheil (Australia) 32:40, 2; Phillip Ryan (Waterhole, Auckland) 32:47, 3; Casey Glover (Capital, Wellington) 33.30; 4; Stefan Talbot (Masterton) 33:32, 5.
Elite 2.8m Women: Melissa Gorman (Australia) 32:56, 1; Cara Baker (Howick Pakuranga) 33:00; 2; Charlotte Webby (AquaBladz, Taranaki) 33:41, 3; Lauren Boyle (North Shore) 35:51, 4; Kirsty Wannan (Auckland) 35:59



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