glynn turquand interview January 22nd, 2010 by Nikola
You partnership with Igor started before Ironman Hawaii 2009 when he was first amateur out of the water. How did you discover Igor?
As one of the owners of XTERRA WETSUITS, I am always on the lookout for triathletes who are both fast in the water and can finish competitively in their age group. In 2007 and 2008 we had the fastest swimmers at the Ironman World Championships that year, and each of these swimmers completed the race with very fast overall times as well. So, for 2009 we needed to find the same type of swimmer. I started “hunting” for this type of swimmer and balanced triathlete, and came upon Igor’s name again since he performed well also in 2007. I wrote him a note and he wrote back. I traded him a box of Swiss chocolate for a Velocity speedsuit. The rest is history.
What do you expect from athletes that XTERRA Wetsuits sopnsors?
Our goal with age-group triathletes who we sponsor is for them to be ambassadors for our company. While it would be great to always have fast swimmers, most of our customers are middle of the pack swimmers who just want to get on their bike and ultimately finish the race. Our customers need to know that our sponsored triathletes are “real” people who wear our product because they love our product. So, we need to have sponsored triathletes who share their XTERRA WETSUITS experience when they are not racing. Igor is a teacher, a wine lover (check out his facebook face) and a triathlon lover, and he has a funny website. He’s a perfect match.
What is your impression about the triathlon team? Are you a fan? 
I think that the team should train more and post fewer photos of themselves having fun. Triathlons are about winning and setting personal bests. Ha! Yes, I’m a fan.
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