Christophe Vandaele, owner of SBR Multisports, was featured in Triathelet Magazine's industry profile. Here is the full version of the interview:
Triathlete Magazine,March 2007

Tell me a bit about your history back in Belgium.

Growing up in Belgium was very different from life in the US. For one, life was harder and kids mature much faster. I was 12 when I started working at my grandpa’s hotel. At 15 I joined the royal military school and became an officer. I graduated valedictorian with masters in political science and bachelor in military science. After graduation I served mostly in Africa (Somalia, Zaire, Congo and Rwanda).

I understand you were in Rwanda and your company was hit hard by rebels. What year was this, and what was the war over... What was Belgium's interest?

The conflict started as early as the 15th century between three ethnic groups: the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa. The Tutsi, from further north, conquered the area, and became the ruling power, and forced the Hutu into a feudal type system that was strictly enforced. The Twa, the smallest minority group, were court jesters and often exploited. Now fast forward to April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana was assassinated when his Falcon 50 tri-jet was shot down while landing in Kigali. It remains unclear who was responsible for the assassination — credible sources point to the Presidential Guard, spurred by Hutu nationalists fearful of losing power, although others believe that Tutsi rebels were responsible with the help of Belgian Special Forces. As a result of this propaganda, the Belgian Para Commandos became a direct target. During an ambush on a platoon protecting Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana, a firefight that lasted several hours broke out. Our unit ran out of ammo and was forced to surrender. Later that day ten of our boys where butchered with machetes. Over the next three months, the military and Interahamwe militia groups killed 1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in the Rwandan genocide. Belgium’s mission was to protect its assets and extract its expatriates and other foreign nationals.

Were you an athlete at the time apart from being a soldier?

Aside from the rigorous daily physical training I found time to relax with fencing and modern pentathlon competitions.

After you were discharged from the military, how/why did you come to the States, and New York, to live?

My decision to leave the army came as soon as I got back home from Rwanda. I thought four years of service in a conflict zone was enough of a pay back for my free education. During my first trip to the US in September 1994, I visited several cities across the country. Two weeks after my return to Belgium, I sold everything to my name and came to New York City.

How/when did SBR Multisports come about? Were you racing at the time?

During my first nine years in the US I worked all the time, at times holding down 3 jobs.

120 hour weeks where not uncommon but I was fueled by working my way up the ladder, achieving the American dream as cheesy as that my sound. My first investment was in an international relocation company and I built it to become the largest one in the North East. Later on I moved into the corporate concierge business, targeting financial institutions and private individuals during the dot com boom. I got tired of putting in 18 hour days into a company and business that my heart wasn’t in.

Throughout the years I ran ultra marathons. 60K was my favorite distance. I did most of the running on my own after work, at the time I didn’t consider “training” for any of these events; I would just run until I got tired. One day I was running past the finish of a triathlon and stopped to watch what was going on. At the finish people where smiling and happy, they had friends and family there. I spoke to some athletes and they all seemed like really cool people. The camaraderie was so strong even though athletes were competing against each other. I thought to myself, if this is what triathlon is then I want to be part of it.

I decided to sell the concierge business and pursue a path I felt passionate about. In 2003, I started New York’s first dedicated triathlon store on the 3rd floor of an office building just off Times Square. By then I had a couple of years’ racing experience and loved the sport.

What's some of your bigger accomplishments in the sport?

As far as athletic achievement, I haven’t really tried to be on top, or win any races. All of my competitions have been done with very little to no training. Right now I’m a business man first and an athlete second, so my business ventures take priority over the sport. However, I can see this situation turn around in the next couple of years and I look forward to being able to take more time to train and race competitively. For now, even though I haven’t competed in several months, I continue to coach and mentor several athletes and take pride to be able to help others in their path towards success in this sport.

How do you try to set yourself apart from every other tri shop? I know there are others in state that simply go for volume. You take a different tack... a refreshing one. I don't know many other shops that have a pool where you can test suits.... Or a shop with so much open space.

Architecture and design are among my hobbies. While envisioning SBR, I commissioned architect, Paul Preissner, a fellow triathlete, to design the store. I wanted to be very much involved in both the marketing and branding concepts as well as the differentiating features. We reconstructed the shopping experience with the making of SBR’s flagship store as the focus of this project was about modernization of the retail environment. At the turn of the century Gerard Bloomingdale introduced air conditioning, escalators, and advertising into retail stores, shopping expanded its scale, but also limited its spontaneity it became much more predictable, almost formulaic, even generic and boring. In the old times when shopping was done at street fairs, the experience was directly linked to the neighboring stands and the street’s energy. Entering a fair, even to this day, has a very special atmosphere, fed by the crowds. Now shopping has become utterly independent, contained, and controlled. You could say shopping is also about nostalgia for a pre-modern condition. When we moved to 58th street we managed SBR’s expansion without losing reputation for adventure and experimentation. We dealt with an explosion of scale - how could we remain interesting and surprising in spite of our much greater presence. We addressed a series of strategic and organizational issues. Based on those factors, we defined what a store could be, and how the shopping experience of a triathlon store could be extended. This technique had never been applied to our industry before, so we pretty much were frontiers in the business. Complementary to the store SBR is defining its identity in a virtual space. We're also working on technological advances that can make the experience of being in a store better – we reinvented the dressing room, the cash register; we're tried to remove some of the traditional irritants of shopping. One of the irritants of shopping is that you always have to know exactly when you're in a store and when you're not, so we tried to blur the limits.

So Paul wanted to make a store that is still a store, but that can contract all its commercial elements into a single point and liberate the rest of the space for public events. We show movies, have book signings and even birthday parties in our store. It's startling how many different ways we can use one space. We thought that one unique thing SBR could offer is a degree of generosity toward the public, that there doesn't always have to be heavy-handed commercial presence. SBR’s business philosophy aims to introduce products that help people interact with nature through the multi-sport activities they love. Triathlon allows us to commune with nature in contemplative solitude or enjoy training in the company of friends who also love the sport. When we built the new store we wanted to define triathlon as a unique activity, special in its ability to help us appreciate the great outdoors in a personal way. Increased concern about the environment has reminded us of our association with nature and the immediate need to take fundamental measures for its protection, even as we progress to greater heights of technology. With that in mind I wanted the shop to be at least 80% recycled. Paul immediately said “no way” at the end we managed, you’d be surprised that if you just take a little more time to research a product you’ll find a similar or same building material which is recycled or contains post consumer materials. I’m fully convinced that the true value of a business will be defined by congruence with this new direction in lifestyle enhancement. At the end what really matters is not only help improve our customers performance, but making swimming, cycling and running a lot more fun. Many people see this as an overdone, overrated concept and philosophy, they might be right. Mark Montgomery one of the first people to ever own a triathlon store back in the 80’s once told me “to make a million dollars with a triathlon store, invest two million and hold on tight”. Now that’s a fact, but then again if I were in it for the money, I would have stayed in the corporate world.

Your attention to the causes of the sport is also prevalent. From competitions (hand on a bike, fit record) to your overweight tri challenge team, to environment is all on the forefront. How do you employ it within the shop (degreaser reuse, low energy lighting?), beyond trying to spread the word?

All these competitions and programs have the same goal: to give back to the sport while helping others at the same time. But SBR is also committed to environmental stewardship, and more specifically, to sound paper procurement practices that ensure the sustainability of forests and other natural resources. We have initiated these practices within a framework of sound business disciplines that ensure that we can meet the commitments we have made to all of our stakeholders: employees and customers. We continue to develop and expand company-wide initiatives to promote sustainability across all aspects of our business. 80% of the retail store is made out of PCG (post consumer goods). 80% of our shipping materials are recycled. Our Lights are low energy, and this way we reduce every kilowatt-hour of electricity used in our store hereby lowering the CO2 it generates. Earlier this year we ran a campaign to raise awareness of water pollution. More than 1% of all US triathlons are held in water of questionable quality that’s 360 events in 2005. There are specific things we can do to contribute to a cleaner planet Earth. I believe that by setting the example, the actions of protecting the environment will become infectious.

How has the shop, or more broadly, the sport on the whole, been? For you in terms of purging that military history from your mind?

As many veterans will to tell you, the lessons learned and scars inflicted by war will never leave you. All you can do is learn how to live with them. The army trains you for years to become a soldier and they expect you to become a civilian in 3 days. It took me five years to realize I had PTSD. I was never exposed to drugs, alcohol or cigarettes so running became my drug, my way of processing, hundreds of miles a week. A couple I met, she a nurse, he an Army colonel, both served several tours in Vietnam and are now doctors in psychology and avid triathletes themselves, recognized my behavior and explained to me what the symptoms of PTSD were. I never heard of PTSD. The only veterans I ever spoke to where WWII vets, and they never talked about it, so I figured I didn't have to either. That kind of old school mentality only gets you so far though. Triathlon has been an enormous help. I love the camaraderie within the sport and I value the bonds I have made with people from all over the world. Through the store in particular, I have made many good friends. While training or racing, the solitude gives me time to process and make progress within. Triathlon gives me a sense of accomplishment and joy that goes towards repairing the wounds and building a coping mechanism. I have to say that since I began competing in triathlons, I have experienced a sort of rebirth. Almost as if triathlon gave me the opportunity to make a fresh start. I recognize the difference within me and it makes me happy to pass on my knowledge and experience to newcomers in the sport because I know that triathlon will change their lives for the better as it did for me.

What's on your race slate for '07?

The obligations I have towards my business ventures don’t permit the training time necessary to compete at a high level in long distance triathlons next year. However, after accepting and making peace with the fact, I found a new challenge through guidance and mentorship of my new coach.

I’m looking forward breaking two hours at the Olympic distance in 2007.