FEATURES

Why Dani?

Monday, 04 December 2017 23:10

2017 MINNESOTA MULTISPORT AWARDS - The men's POY category was highly controversial. (We'll post Wade Cruser's disagreeing comments later this week.) So was the women's. A great case could be made for all of the nominated performances:

- GABY BUNTEN - Victory at Minneapolis. Gaby's 2:08:34 was the fastest Olympic(ish) time by a Minnesota woman this year. Beating Missouri's Danielle Dingman, now a pro, 2016 Minnesota Triathlete of the Year Hanna Grinaker (who Deked herself because of a lost chip), future pro Maeghan Easler (IA), Elaine Nelson, Suzie Fox, Kristina Swenson and others added to the magnitude of her effort.

- GABY BUNTEN - 5th overall at Nationals. How many Minnesota women have, during this millennium, cracked the overall Top 5 at Nationals? Three: Cathy Yndestad, Heather Lendway and Gaby Bunten. That's amazing company to be in. Hopefully USAT will evaluate her 2017 resume and award her an AOY HM.

- CHRISTINA ROBERTS - Win at Superior Man. Her 4:37:04 was the fastest 70.3 time by a Minnesota woman in 2017. The fact that she did this without being pushed--her margin of victory was 27:33--made it even more special.

- DANI VSETECKA - Win at Madison 70.3 - Beating former pro Dani Fischer, who would go on to reset the amateur women's CR at Ironman Wisconsin, was a big deal. Adding more bigness to the deal, she also beat Hanna Grinaker, and former pros Morgan Chaffin and Jessica Jacobs. ...

Who would you choose? 

The reason the Committee went with Dani's 70.3 win, aside from the rational discussed above, is that she finished only 16:26 behind the men's winner, Ryan Giuliano, who has been our country's most successful amateur male 70.3 racer for the last 2-3 years. A more standard elite amateur male/elite amateur female time differential would be in the 25-30 minute range.