Day One From The TYR Photo Shoot

By Liz Hichens, Competitor.com TYR has brought some of its top triathletes out to southwest New Hampshire for its 2010 product photo shoot, and Triathlete is here to catch all of the action. See More after the jump. Athletes on hand for the shoot Monday, August 24th included Americans Andy Potts, TJ Tollakson and Becky Lavelle, Great Britain’s Chrissie Wellington and TYR’s newest athlete, Canadian Magali Tisseyre. Potts, Tollakson, Wellington and Tisseyre enjoyed a day of racing at the Timberman Ironman 70.3. After the race, the TYR team and athletes headed south to an isolated location in southwest New Hampshire for the photo shoot. Fresh off of her win at Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3, Lavelle flew out to New Hampshire and met up with the crew. While it is not rare for companies to bring athletes together for photo shoots, TYR realized the advantage of having some of the sport’s greatest athletes together under one roof and spent a day focusing on product development. TYR’s product manager Jared Berger and designer Cindy Mullally spent the entire day after the race getting feedback from the people whose opinion matters most, the athletes. The pair spent an hour reviewing new materials and styles for the 2010 and 2011 product lines. Athletes were asked to feel the fabrics and come up with some ideas for how they could be used in products. The athletes’ feedback will be an integral part of TYR’s future lines. The company also has plans to come out with more training and leisure apparel, again based on the thoughts and opinions of its athletes. The rest of the day, the TYR team sat down with athletes individually to learn more about what they’d like to see in TYR products. This spring TYR will be jumping into the wetsuit market and once again, the wetsuits are being made with constant input from the athletes. Superstar swimmer Potts has his hands on the wetsuit project and is a big part of how the final product will look and perform. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a process like this,” Potts explained. “It’s awesome to have a company that you’re working with look to you for feedback and take it to develop the product. It’s not just about what I’m looking for in a product, but what will work for every triathlete. I take a good sense of pride in being able to do this.” Potts’ experience as a collegiate swimmer and his reputation as one of the best swimmers in the sport have been vital in helping to develop products like the wetsuit. “My background is swimming definitely helps a swimming apparel company like TYR,” Potts said. “I’m very comfortable in the water, and I’ve translated that into triathlon. There’s not a condition out there that I haven’t experienced in one way or another.”