Scottish apparel specialist Endura, following a successful season developing cutting edge aerodynamic kit for Movistar Team, the highest ranked UCI WorldTour Team in 2013 and 2014, has announced the company’s intentions to enter the triathlon market.
Endura has initiated its market entry with the signing of professional long course triathletes Rachel Joyce, Tim Don, Luke McKenzie, and Beth Gerdes.
According to Endura, this selection of triathletes creates the winning combination of passion, enthusiasm and the right spirit for the sport. All bring with them their dreams for Kona. With Ironman championships already under their belt, a victory in Kona will be a goal shared by the individuals and the team at Endura.
“We saw these athletes as the right fit for us as they embody the spirit that we live by at Endura; they have a true passion for their sport and are eager to be a part of the exciting product development process,” said Jim McFarlane, Managing Director for Endura.
Rachel Joyce, three-time 70.3 Ironman Champion, three-time Ironman Champion, Challenge Roth winner and multiple top 5 finisher in the Ironman World Championships, said “I’m delighted to be working with Endura for 2015 and beyond. It’s great to be partnering up with a Scottish company (as a Brit!), one that is committed to producing quality cycle wear that performs for training as well as leading the way in innovating race performance wear. I’m looking forward to a fast 2015 with Endura!”
Tim Don, multiple Ironman 70.3 champion and recent Ironman Mallorca 2014 champion, said “Working with a company like Endura is an important step for me as I move up to the full Ironman distance and Kona in 2015. With their attention to detail and extensive research into super-fast and comfy triathlon race suits I am really looking forward to having an edge over my rivals in 2015 and being dirtyfast!”
Luke McKenzie, six-time Ironman Champion and 2013 Ironman World Championship runner-up, said “I am really looking forward to working with Endura and exploring the boundaries of performance. Triathlon race suit technology is rapidly evolving and Endura will leave no stone unturned to help me find that extra speed.”
Long course professional triathlete Beth Gerdes said “I am excited to be with Endura and to take advantage of the best technology in the apparel industry.”
Like the time trial suits developed for the pro tour, the kits to be worn this year by these sponsored triathletes are the result of Endura’s exclusive collaborative partnership with Simon Smart, Technical Director at Smart Aero Technology and the brains behind the Drag2Zero brand.
Extensive product development, under project FreeSpeed, has seen the kit tested at the facility in the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Wind Tunnel at Brackley and anonymous prototype testing at races to maximize the aerodynamic performance.
“This is the fastest suit out there, we’ve been fine tuning the aerodynamics for the last twelve months and we now have it optimized for triathlon, specifically racing at the Ironman level,” Simon Smart said.
“We have a huge amount of ambition for this market, we wanted to be able to apply the technology we’ve been using to shave seconds off time trial performance, but knew we couldn’t just repackage it and call it triathlon specific,” explained Endura’s Jim McFarlane.
Endura notes that the key challenge on kit for triathlon is the variation in body position for the three different disciplines of swim/bike/run. The extensive collaborative development process has resulted in a unique pattern which ensures that the silhouette is aero-optimized for the bike position, yet offers vertical flex in the abdominal and shoulder areas for the swim and run.
According to Endura, it is an incredibly minimalistic construction consisting of only four separate panels of carefully selected fabrics, positioned to create an extremely fast suit.
Endura is working on bringing the technology developed for these top level athletes to the masses, aiming to provide riders with the opportunity to experience the performance gains offered by apparel created under project FreeSpeed. However, speed is only one, albeit very significant, factor in triathlon.
Endura is also working on pad technology specifically designed for triathletes. The Scottish company expects to share details of a world beating triathlon pad that it has had in development for many months, later in the year. Endura’s newly sponsored elite athletes will be part of that test program, along with making further improvements in aerodynamics and all the ‘key details that are often overlooked in maximizing race performance.’
