This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Carlsbad, California to attend the Zoot Elite Team Camp (Ultra Team). The camp revolved around the Oceanside 70.3 race and of the 23 team members that showed up (out of 33, I believe) 9 raced Oceanside. The top finishers were Amy Marsh who placed 8th overall and her husband Brandon Marsh who took 10th for the men. This race is "oddly stacked" with some of the very best triathletes in the world, so these finishes were fantastic. It was great to be in California and finally meet the folks at Zoot as well as my fellow team members (some age groupers, some pro). Ben Harper of Team Sports and now Zoot Sports organized the weekend and does much of the organization for the team. Ben is a former pro cyclist himself and he was a lot of fun to meet. He does a fantastic job organizing everything from the camp to uniforms to equipment orders. Eli Carlson was also showed up at the camp. She is an asset to Zoot as far as marketing is concerned. Tom Schueler of Team Sports was there as well. Tom is a former professional cyclist and through his company, manages many teams cycling and triathlon (including the Zoot Ultra Team). We also had the opportunity to meet the CEO of Zoot Sports, Brian Enge, who is a very "down-to-earth" guy. I learned some interesting history of the company such as: the first "triathlon specific" suit was made in Kona, Hawaii by Crystal Nyland the founder of Zoot in 1983; Zoot is the only company that can outfit a triathlete from head to toe and from training to race day and beyond; the company today has only 25 employees and is the number one multisport brand on the market; Zoot was also the number one brand in Kona and Clearwater last year. So, you can see why it is so exciting to be a part of this company! In addition to Zoot, we had employees from our other sponsors which included Gu, Fuel Belt, Scott Bicycles, and Sunnto Watches. Triathlon legend Bob Babbit (competed in one of the very first Ironman Triathlon competitions) also spoke to us about the media side of triathlon and being a pro in the sport and trying to get more people involved in the sport that we love so much and are so passionate about.
The weekend began with a celebration party (after Oceanside 70.3) sponsored by Triathelete Magazine and Zoot, and ended with a huge dinner with the Zoot employees, CEO, as well as World Champions Sam McGlone and Mirinda Carfae (Zoot sponsored athletes). I left feeling even more excited to be a part of the Zoot Elite Team as Zoot has a way of making you feel like you are part of something very special. They are like one big family out there in California. As for my fellow teammates, it was great to meet everyone and I look forward to running into everyone at the races!
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