We at Cycle Superstore were very happy to have secured Zoot as the official swim sponsor for the European Triathlon championships in Athlone from the 1st to 4th of July.

We had a great presence. We had a 4x4 meter Expo stand in the main recovery area where the main stage and all the post race action was. I should mention that there were over 4000 competitors and over 2000 spectators in attendance over the 3 days.
As exclusive swim sponsor we had secured exclusive branding rights to the the Swim exit, A 50 meter shoot and we completely covered it. We also had branding rights to the Elite transition. This was a 300 meter long area and the Blue Zoot banners matched the blue transition carpet perfectly. The entire area looked very well. We also had Zoot branding on the finishing gantry and along the finishing shoot in the form of 4 feet by 8 feet signs.

Our expo stand was great, It was fully covered and protected from the elements (which, at times was needed) and we had the entire line of Zoot runners, Zoot wetsuits and Zoot Tri Bags and there was huge interest in all of it. We even had our treadmill in the stand so as to let people test out the runners. And I am proud to boast that we were one of the busiest stands there.

The British athletes were out in force with around 62 athletes making the trip over and around 30 more just over to spectate and cheer on their fellow countrymen and women. The vast majority of them were interested in the Zoot Ultra TT 3.0 Tri shoe. The shoe is Red, white and blue. And having seen some of them with union jack running shoes on, we could immediately see why this shoe drew their attention. But as soon as they put the shoe on the could see that not only was it a lovely looking shoe but an extremely comfortable and supportive shoe, And they were only too happy to give it a go on the treadmill.

The same could be said for some of the Irish athletes with the Zoot Ultra Tempo 3.0 Tri shoe. (The green and white shoe).

Saturday came and it was down to business for the elite junior and senior women. A huge crowd turned out to cheer them all the way through the full Olympic distance race, comprising of a 1500m swim, a 40 km bike and a 10 km run.

Ireland had a great result in the senior women's Tri with Aileen Morrison coming home in 5th position. Later Aileen Morrison come over to our Zoot exto stand and we got her to take a pair of (pink) Zoot Ultra tempo 3.0 shoes.

The next day it was the turn of the men and the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Rain and high winds. This unfortunately meant the we had to take down most of our branding. However we still had some at the start of the elite transition though.

I am delighted to say that in the under 23's race, Cycle Superstore employee James was in his Irish gear and had a good race coming home in 11th. He also had one of the fastest bike times of 57 mins. Standing at the elite transition I was very happy to see a few pairs of Zoot ultra speed racing flats and Ultra TT 3.0's. We got some great pictures of the men jumping into their shoes right in front of the Zoot banners.

When the elite men had finished the swim and left transition one it was Alistair Brownlee, (the current world champion) in first position with with last year's winner in Athlone, Bryan Keane not too far off. But by the end of the first 5 km bike loop he was a bit off the pace, around 50 seconds down. And by the time they were heading our for the run he was nearly 1.40 mins down.
In the end Alistair Brownlee would take the win with an fantastic time of 1.44.24 with Irelands Bryan Keane coming home in 37th, 4.26 mins off the winner. Still quite a respectable result at the European championships though.

Overall the weekend was a success with Zoot getting great coverage and some great results for Ireland too. I look forward to seeing you all there again next year.