By Triathlete Magazine

The third Act of Gina Kehr’s professional career as a triathlete has begun. Kehr was at the top of the triathlon world in 2003 when she crossed the finish line at the Ironman Hawaii World Championship as the first U.S. Female finisher for the second consecutive year (7th overall). But then everything changed. Kehr suffered a terrible crash on the bike in 2004 that left her career in question. Although the time away from the sport in 2004 and 2005 enabled Kehr and her husband to celebrate the birth of their first child, Gabriella, the reality was that Kehr had not raced nor trained for two years.

After a stunning return to the world stage with a 4th place finish at the 2006 Hawaii Ironman, Kehr made some changes in the off-season and decided it was time to go all-in for 2007 and beyond.

“I always had a lot of confidence in my own ability and my results showed it, but if I wanted to make a run at being the best in the world, I was going to have to add a few pieces to the puzzle, said Kehr from her Redwood City, California home.

With a revamped attitude and an entirely new respect from the triathlon community, Kehr hired a new agent, and recruited one of the top exercise physiologists in the world to join forces with her longtime coach and 2-time Ironman Canada Champion Michael McCormack (www.triathloncoach.com). In addition, she surrounded herself with a team of sponsors that all shared one major goal – to make Gina Kehr as fast as possible.

At 37, Kehr is a wife, a mother, a part-time realtor, and one of the fastest female triathletes in the world. She speaks to an audience that reaches far beyond the world of triathlon and her sponsors recognized that. Kehr added Zoot Sports as the final piece of the puzzle and immediately won her first race of the year as a Zoot athlete, racing in the Zenith wetsuit and an ULTRA race day kit.

“I might be the only Zoot Athlete that has never lost a race,” Kehr joked when asked about her debut win in 2007. “Zoot is in a tremendous growth phase and there was a great symbolic fit between the two of us. I plan to take the next step in my career just as Zoot has huge plans for the next couple of years. The Ultra line is awesome and is what I will race in throughout the year.”

“We are so happy to have Gina as part of the Zoot family,” commented Eli Carlson, Director of Marketing for Zoot Sports. “Gina’s incredible talent, strong-willed character and most important, her aggressive drive to win perfectly parallel with Zoot’s strategy to be a premier global multisports brand. We look forward to continuing our success with Gina and will be cheering her on at this weekend’s Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon.”