Race Coverage

Making Great Memories...Updated...

Sunday, 03 September 2017 19:10

HOPKINS ROYAL TRIATHLON – SCOTT and ANDREA MYERS had hoped to accomplish what they had often done during their nine-year stint in Ohio: Share the Winners Circle. Both had the advantage of low bib numbers, which allowed them to get favorable placement in the TT swim queue. Both were out the water ahead of everyone else, thus they went off the front.

Scott was able to stay there, arriving in T2 well ahead of the next arrivee. Andrea was passed only by a handful of men.

With fingers crossed, the Myers waited to learn their fate. In the end, Andrea prevailed, winning by nearly a minute over women's runner-up SARAH HUNTER, aka “The Huntress.” For Myers, 41, it was her second victory of the 2017 season. Her resume appears, once again, to be Master of the Year nomination-worthy.

For The Huntress, the performance was a breakout. She finished 7^th here in 2016 in a time that was almost seven minutes slower than her Sunday effort. Good stuff.

Finishing 26-seconds after Hunter was ANDREA JENSEN, who races infrequently but has demonstrated elite potential in the past.

Unlike his wife, Scott Myers would have to settle for 2^nd place, just ten seconds behind defending champ BRETT LOVAAS, who despite a very scary surgery-requiring health issue earlier in the year, has won three of the four triathlons he's done this season. The win on Sunday, according to our records, was the 33^rd of his multisport career.

Claiming the final men's podium spot was 2016 Junior of the Year, MITCH CLAYTON, now 20. Though a bit scraped-up from a crash the previous weekend at Superior Man, Clayton turned in a fine effort, his time was just seconds off his AG's record....

The HRT's run course was tweaked this year, requiring participants to cover a counter-clockwise 5K route, not the original clockwise one. Technically, this would mean that all AG winners established new course records. For MTN record-keeping purposes, though, we evaluate the performances as they compare historically. The distances, after all, have not changed, though we understand the new course may or may not have been more challenging.

From a historical perspective, nine Age Group records were set on Sunday:

• 19U – CARTER DEICHMAN – 1:09:56 (Old Mark – 1:23:00)

• 45-49M – LANG HUNT – 1:09:14 (Old Mark – 1:13:03)(top photo - FYI - Lang is a HOOT!, and so is his wife.)

• 50-54M – IAN NEMEROV – 1:09:42 (Old Mark – 1:09:48)

• 50-54W – TERESA VAN HEFTE, SD (Old Mark – 1:21:34)

• 55-59M – TIM BROWN – 1:12:23 (Old Mark – 1:14:29)

• 65-69M – SPIKE MILLSLAGLE – 1:20:59 (Old Mark – 1:30:33)

• 70-74M – RICH GOLLA – 1:43:31 (Old Mark – 1:49:50)

• 70-74W – SUSAN DRAGSTEN – 1:49:13 (No prior mark)

• 675-79 – CLARK WORTHINGTON – 1:53:48 (No prior mark)

As always, Doobie and his crew did an awesome, providing a memorable experience for the nearly 400 finishers. RESULTS

Photo R - Scott Myers

UPDATE: We got this email note from Dobie this morning. It's good stuff!