Sponsored by ... my wife

Economic times are hard for sure...

Many sports are also feeling the pinch. Triathlon is a small fish to begin with so when the marketing budgets get cut, many triathletes sponsorships dry up.

I have also been feeling the ecconomy and sponsorship is very hard to find. This season I have taken a different approach. I have decided my wife is the best sponsor. She is always available to ask for more money. She likes me enough that usually she gives me money. The only problem is she is still in school, so I guess maybe next year I have a real sponsor...

So for this year, I decided I should just sponsor my self. To do this, I have started a small sport product company called Verda Sport. My triathlon buddy Tatu Kasurinen and I have done this in the hope that we can bring some unique, interesting, and hard to find products to Finland that athletes will really enjoy.



The first product line is with CEP compression socks. I was first introduced to these socks about two years ago at Frankfurt marathon where my wife was running. She tried them before the race and ended up using in the race with a 20 minute improvement! After that I decided I should try them out and for the past year I have been using them in racing and training. They are a product a truely believe in and want more people to take advantage of.

At some point soon I will be adding more products as well, but some of that depends if the socks sell! So, please stop by my shop (should open within the week)and help support an athlete! And if you have any ideas of products you would like me to carry in my shop, please feel free to contact me.


For Athletes, By Athletes

1st looser...

Welcome back to the winter updates!

February turned into real winter here finally and skiing became good for a few weeks. I have been trying to get out as much as possible to enjoy and get quality training.

Racing has started this year with a couple small events here. One 3000m indoor track race and a 'winter triathlon' of pool swim, ski, and run.

Both events were fun and went well but are really just used to quality training. I have never done a 3000m track race, so I didn't really know what to expect. I found out that running on the 175m track in Kupittaa is a little bit like being a hampster running inside a wheel in their cage. It gets boring really fast, but suprisingly it still goes by quickly. I guess 3000m is not that far.. Anyways, this was a pretty small race and I managed to get 2nd place in a time of 9:04.

My second event was our clubs winter triathlon where it all comes down to who actually knows how to ski. I am luck and have some background in skiing so I can keep up with most everyone, but as long as one real skier shows up, I am always going to be the first looser. Either way its great fun and gets your motivation going again after many months of boring training every week. And after the race my wife and I hosted a kickin' party, which was the real highlight of the event.

Now the weather is starting to change to spring and getting back on the bike sounds very good. When the sun comes out, my motivation to do anything doubles. I am a little bit like a bear in hibernation... winter is a time for sleeping. Summer is time to play. Now I have seen the light, watch out.

- Darby