Triathlon LAB

Triathlon LAB Sponsors Terenzo Bozzone
by TriEurope



Los Angeles-based triathlon retail store, Triathlon LAB, Inc. is proud to announce its sponsorship of professional triathlete, Terenzo Bozzone.
Of the relationship, Bozzone says, “It is great to be a part of the Triathlon Lab crew. I know that performing at the top of my game requires everything to run smoothly from my body to my bike. I know I can trust the staff at Triathlon Lab to always make sure my bike is operating at the top of its game. All I need to do now is make sure my body is functioning at the same level. I look forward to a long relationship with the team and know we will be able to help each other grow.”
The 25 year old athlete from Auckland, New Zealand already has dozens of 1st place elite and professional finishes highlighting his career. His race record boasts four-first place finishes and four-second place finishes in the 2010 season. One of the first place finishes was earned this past Sunday, July 11, at the Providence, Rhode Island 70.3.
Terenzo has most major 70.3 titles under his belt, including a record setting 2008 World Championship Clearwater win. In 2009, Bozzone began challenging the full Ironman distance, debuting with a second place finish at Ironman New Zealand.
“We are very excited to have Terenzo join us here in Los Angeles,” says founder and CEO of Triathlon LAB, Lloyd Taylor, “Terenzo has a lot of talent and a bright future in the sport. We are looking forward to being a part of his continued racing success.”
Bozzone joins a team of other Triathlon LAB winning athletes, whose professional roster includes Chris “Macca” McCormack, Chris Foster, Jenny Fletcher, Jim Lubinski, and others.

Rhode Island 70.3

Finally I have made it back home to New Zealand after an event filled few months on the road. The last race of the series for me was in Providence, Rhode Island on the weekend. This was going to be my 9^th race of the season and 8^th race on this trip. My journey over to the East Coast from LA had a rough start with me missing my flight by a few minutes. To add to this frustration I had one too many coffees that morning and had started to get the jitters while checking in. I managed to arrange to get on a 6am flight the next day so it was off to Santa Monica to hang out with Macca and Derrick. I managed to balance the $150 airline charge out with a one night refund on my hotel.

I arrived in Providence late Thursday afternoon to be greeted by Vinu Malik, owner of Fuelbelt, one of my sponsors. The next couple days rolled around fairly quickly and I soon realized that there were a few more top competitors racing than I had expected. I was going to have to have another great day if I wanted to come out on top.

Race morning was here and after 3hours sleep I was up at 3am to get ready for a 6am kick off. Also the start was an hour drive away from the finish. Thankfully Vinu was up nice and early to drop me off. So we cruised down in him Benz and cranked “The White Panda”

The Start of the swim was fast and soon we all realized that we couldn’t hold onto Kiwi, Graham O’Grady’s feet. He ended up putting a good 90seconds on us heading onto the bike. He also biked strong on the hilly course and held us off until the last section, that is most of us except Paul Ambrose who was starting to put time into us like we were kids riding BMX’s. Off the bike we were a group of five with a 3.5 minute deficit on Ambrose.

Richie and I quickly opened a little gap and were trotting along at a comfortable pace. The time to Ambrose was slowly coming down, but it was hard to calculate if we were going to have enough runway to bring him back. With Richie and I not looking around too much we were soon caught by another Aussie Tim Berkel. Berkel was running strong and putting the pressure on. Soon Richie had dropped off the new pace and I was only just hanging on. Onto the second lap we had made up 2 minutes so all going well we should catch Ambrose with a couple miles to go. I decided to make a move on the steepest hill on the course to test Berkel’s legs. He hung strong for most of the way but I managed to open a little gap that I worked hard to get bigger. Soon Ambrose was in my sights and instead of him giving up when I passed he ran with me for a mile or so and was probably puffing less than me.

All that kept me going that last half of the run was the thought of a good rest once I crossed that finish line. The fans were great and kept my spirits high and legs light those finishing stretches. I was relieved to get this win under my belt and one race closer to evening out my firsts and seconds for the season – 4 wins, 5 seconds and counting.

Tim Berkel came in second, Paul Ambrose third, Richie Cunningham fourth and Maxim Karit fifth.In the womans race we Kate Major ran into the win, Catlin Snow took second and fellow Kiwi Sam Warriner who lead the race most of the day struggled the closing miles and finished third.

Just in case I was not punished enough I had to go back and pack up my hotel before noon, get back for prize giving, rush to the airport to fight with the check in guy who has possibly stolen my bike case, fly to Orange County, arrive at midnight, wake at 6am, meet with Felt, shoot Oakley 2011 campaign all day with Walter Iooss, drive to Triathlon lab to pick up bags, drive to airport, sort out missing bag and fly to NZ in not the greatest seat. Glad to be home!

It has been a great season so far, thanks to everyone who has made it possible. I am now home for the next few weeks for a bit of R & R before getting ready for the big one in Kona in October.

I would also like to welcome California based Tri shop Triathlon Lab to the team. They are a great company and are helping to take this sport to the next level. It will be great to have a team of highly experienced mechanics helping me out whenever I need. I am looking forward to a great relationship with you guys.

By the way, New Zealand is cold and Kelly is working in Bali…

Thanks

Buffalo Springs 70.3

Race Number 8 done and dusted over the weekend at the Buffalo Springs 70.3, in Lubbock, Texas. After a long and uncomfortable trip from LA to Texas, we finally arrived and greeted by Randy our homestay and the heat of the Texan summer.

Weather forecast for race day was crazy and the temperatures were meant to soar which could be a huge factor during the race.

Race morning came round fast and we were up at 3.30am, it felt like I hadn't even slept!!

6.30am and we were off on the 1.2 mile swim. Had a great start and settled into a good rhythm early on. After a 21.33 minute swim we were out and onto the bike. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get much of a gap on the rest of the pro field so 6 of us headed out onto the 56 mile bike. Managed to jump on the back of the Lieto and TJ Tollakson's crazy fast express train for the first half of the bike.......whoever told me to cycle with Chris Lieto is nuts.....

After pushing my body for 40mins to try and stay with them I was totally stuffed and fell off the pace......now it was survival mode for me, trying not to waste too much energy for the 2nd half of the bike to ensure I had something left in the tank for the run.

Finally arrived into transition and with the famous Bozzone transition I was out onto the 13.1 mile run 4.30mins down on Lieto. Didn't feel great for the first 2 miles of the run and the temperatures were starting to climb, but I kept digging deep trying to find that extra gear. Seeing Lieto walking on the other side of the lake definitely gave me the extra gear.....thanks Chris!!!

For the next 4 miles I just put my head down and ran as fast as I could to try and catch him. By the turn around point I had run 2.30 minutes into Lieto (race leader), but he was still nowhere in sight. I tried to pick it up but I didn't seem to be gaining on the way home.

Finished 2nd 1.30mins down on Chris Lieto, with Ben Hoffman rounding out the podium. Congratulation to Chris for a great race!!

Thank you to our awesome homestay in Lubbock, Randy and Shari Holloway. We had a great time and hopefully we will be back next year!!

Back in LA for the next week, before I head over to Rhode Island 70.3 on the East Coast for my last race in the USA before I return home to NZ for a short visit. Looking forward to the break and catching up with everyone back home.