DIRK BAELUS

After graduating university, Dirk Baelus opened a pub in his hometown of Arendonk in Belgium. Growing up Dirk was often sick, and as pub owner, working long-hours, smoking, drinking his beloved beer and unhealthy eating habits, he was always tired, sick and felt drained. One day, a regular customer was talking about his plans to complete a quarter triathlon and challenged Dirk to join him. 

Dirk bought running shoes, swimwear and a second-hand racing bike, and started training. Quite reluctant at first, he started to really enjoy it. In June 2005, Dirk participated in his first quarter triathlon. Even though he was overpowered by the other swimmers, the overall experience was fantastic – he had found confidence passion he’d never had before.  

In January 2006, Dirk joined Triathlon Club Triamo and was coached by Trainer Michel Sprangers.  Due to his intensive training,  he started searching for the food and diet  that would give him the energy he needed.  “When I think back to my youth, it seemed like I was always ill and being treated by antibodictics. I suffered from shingles, advanced osteomyelitis and inflammation of the myocardium. It was clear that my immune system was not doing a good job and that I was prone to illness. . When I started training, I thought I would become the healthiest person ever. I quit smoking and stopped drinking. But I got injured and kept getting sick so I took a look at the food I was eating. After 2 weeks without meat, diary or refined sugar, I was a different person and really started to blossom.” 

His love for triathlons  generated a new passion for natural, pure nutrition. He tested diets, devoured books and in the process discovered how natural, plant-based nutrition healed his body and mind. He became increasingly  energetic and felt healthier;  he has not eaten anything but 100% natural and balanced meals with pure, plant-based ingredients since January 2007.

In 2008, Dirk started to delve deeper into natural nutrition and travelled to the French Pyrenees and in 2009, he spent 10 weeks with Japanese Sea Farmers to learnabout new ingredients and recipes. When he returned to Belgium, he became a food coach and started giving cooking workshops. 

Dirk continued to achieve excellent results in triathlons and travelled to Hawaii to compete in his first Ironman – finishing 52nd in his age category. During the time, he had an increased desire to convert his balanced meals into compact food for cyclist or those on-the-go. Through trial and error, he developed the most natural sports nutrition bar and the dream of his own sports nutrition brand was in full swing.

In January 2012, the first sports bar was launched in Belgium under the brand name Innerme Pure Power. 

Between 2011 and 2015, Dirk wrote three books: Pure kracht (2011, Op weg naar balans (2015) en De basis van natuurlijke voeding (2015). At the end of 2013, Dirk created  a triathlon team, the Innerme Triathlon Team; it  now has more than 30 members and its mission is to exercise together and eat delicious healthy meals afterwards.

Dirk has put an end to his 15-year triathlon career, but not until becoming a two-time Belgian Masters Champion  and, as a 40-year-old, completed his last Ironman in under 9 hours. He still exercises today and participates in running and cycling races, trains triathletes, promotes natural food, gives cooking workshops and continues to perfect the Innerme brand and products. 

From a life of excesses as a Pub owner to that of a healthy triathlete and successful entrepreneaur – it sounds like a fairy tale, but it took a lot of work and miles. On the road to balanace - his passion for triathlon took him to Hawaii; his quest for pure food to Japan. Yin and Yang. 

Dirk ran 100 triathlons included 26 Ironmans. In 2019 he became Belgian Champion Masters (40+) in half triathlon and duathlon.

• 21/06/2009 - 09:35:22 - Ironman Japan - 17th
• 23/08/2009 - 09:06:55 - Limburg226, Neerpelt - 1st
• 10/10/2009 - 09:59:55 - Ironman Hawaii - 285th
• 18/08/2012 - 08:50:45 - Ironman Sweden - 33rd
• 12/10/2013 - 09:20:52 - Ironman Hawaii - 147th
• 30/05/2015 - 08:53:57 - IronMedoc - 5th
• 12/09/2015 - 08:58:41 - Challenge Almere - 14th
• 19/08/2018 - 08:52:38 - Ironman Copenhagen - 23rd
• 06/07/2019 - 08:58:21 - Frysman - 2nd

KIM CLIJSTERS

Kim Clijsters is a professional tennis player and former WTA World No.1 in both singles and doubles. Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017, the Belgian is the owner of 41 career singles titles and 11 career doubles titles. 

Kim turned pro in 1997 and was part of the 2001 Belgium Fed Cup winning team. She first reached No.1 in 2003 and won her first grand slam title at the 2005 US Open. In 2007, at the age of 23, she announced her retirement due to injuries and to start a family. Kim and her husband Brian welcomed a daughter, Jada, in 2008. 

In 2009, Kim made a successful return to the WTA by winning, in just her third tournament back, the 2009 US Open to became the third WTA player to win a grand slam after giving birth. Kim added 5 more titles in 2010 including the US Open and WTA Finals. The Belgian won her fourth grand slam at the 2011 Australian open and  returned to World No.1 on February 14, 2011. She retired for a second time after the 2012 US Open. After retiring, she returned to Belgium with her husband and daughter, had two more kids, Jack in 2013 and Blake in 2016, and opened a tennis academy. 

Kim discovered the Innerme product at a local health food store in 2013. 

“I was in a personal time in my life where I was searching for really good healthy nutrition. I was traveling the world, trying different products and just never really found what I was looking for. From the start, the Innerme products were the right fit. The helped me with stamina and recovery. Knowing I had such a strong and good quality product was a major relief – I knew that my nutrition was covered.”

Kim was in attendance at a nutritional event where Dirk was teaching a cooking class and just had to introduce herself to the Founder of Innerme. Their friendship and mutual interest in health and nutrition grew and Kim soon became an Ambassador and Investor. 

“Healthy and natural food plays an important role in both my sporting and every-day family life. The collaboration with Innerme is a project close to my heart. I truly believe this is the best product on the market. I’ve been the ultimate fan from the first time I tried it.”  

In September 2019, Kim announced her return to professional tennis. And when she returned to the match court in February 2020, Innerme was right by her side (or at least nearby in her tennis bag).