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First-Time Champions...
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Wednesday, 16 November 2022 00:10
ED. Between now and January 1, MTN will intersperse new contet with stories posted during the 2022 racing season. Today we return to Chisago.
CHISAGO LAKES SPRINT & OLYMPIC COVERAGE - It certainly appeared that 2021 Chisago Sprint winner DEANA JAGIELO would claim her second consecutive women's title. The pre-race favorite from Chaska was the first woman to cross the finish line. Bolstered by the fact that she already had a Sprint victory (Trinona) on her 2022 resume, it seemed logical that her Chisago win would stand up. It would take a breakout effort by any of her later-wave rivals to upset this apple cart...
"The Word is Gratitude"....
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Saturday, 12 November 2022 00:10
Ironman 70.3 World Championship Race Recap - October 29th, 2022
By David Koppel
Some Background Context: In early August, I finished 2nd in my age group (M35-39) at USAT Olympic distance nationals. I lost to Brett Collins for the second year in a row. Brett is a nice guy, but he's taken two national championships from me and finished one spot in front of me at a 70.3 in June. It was a strong result, but I really didn't leave that weekend feeling fulfilled or motivated to train for the olympic distance. I knew it wasn't triathlon that was the issue, just that I wasn't as into the short course racing as I once was for maybe a couple reasons. 1. It's hard to find really competitive fields and big races in that distance. 2. The swim is a much bigger portion of the race, which leaves me chasing faster swimmers for the entire bike and run legs.
I had really enjoyed Steelhead 70.3 (half ironman) in late June and I did have 2 more 70.3's on the calendar in the next 2.5 months. The other thought I had that I couldn't quite shake was that I didn't know if I was getting everything I wanted out of my training to be the fastest possible triathlete on the time I had available. As in, I've coached myself for 6 years and certainly gotten faster each year, but was I getting ALL of the juice from the squeeze?! So many of my peers and guys beating me are coached athletes, and having never been coached, I started to wonder what I may be missing....
Damon's Picks...
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Thursday, 03 November 2022 00:10
The MMH Committee did not convene this season, thus there are no official Minnesota Multisport Honorees. Still, two members of that committee, Matt and Damon, studied the 2022 resumes of Minnesota triathletes and came up with their respective nominees and winners.
Today's post features Damon's picks, which are based on an athlete having at least three impressive performance last season. Matt's picks will post on Sunday.
Damon's unofficial Minnesota Athletes of the Year:
- TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR - PRESTON YOUNGDAHL (photo) and HEATHER LENDWAY
Male Nominees: Aj Manning, Andy Zabel
Female Nominee: Maggie Swanson
Cami or Elena?
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Tuesday, 01 November 2022 00:10
Though there was no shortage of viable female Most Improved candidates last season, both Matt and Damon agree that the MI honor should go to either ELENA HENGEL or CAMI ECKHOFF. Matt chose to favor Eckhoff, so Damon was tasked with arguing on behalf of Hengel.
ELENA HENGEL, 25, Wayzata - At first glance Elena's 2021 resume looked like it deserved to be considered for a Rookie of the Year nomination. A second look told a different story. Though she podiumed in two races--2nd at Maple Grove Sprint and 3rd at Turtleman Sprint--her times were not competitive from a historical perspective. At Maple Grove, her time was 1:16:39, a result than wouldn't have cracked the Top 10 this year, or in most prior years.
At Turtleman, her time would have been eight minutes slower than this year's winning time. Still, it was her first year, and she had shown "promise."
She certainly delivered on that promise in 2022. Her first race produced a win in a fast 1:06:10 at Buffalo Sprint, the 4th best in the seven-year history of the current course. She follwed that with a 3rd place finish at Lake Minnetonka, where she was ten minutes faster than her 18th place finish there in 2021....
Andrew or Stuart?
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Friday, 28 October 2022 00:10
Matt and Damon agree the STUART GILDEA and ANDREW KERSHAW are the two strongest candidates for 2022 Male Most Improved, though Damon is not convinced that PRESTON YOUNGDAHL shouldn't be included here. Like AJ MANNING and ANDY ZABEL, Youngdahl brought an elite resume into the season, whereas Gildea and Kershaw made the leap from being "solid" performers to elite ones. Damon argues that while Youngdahl was a consistent winner at sprint and Olympic distance during his years in Louisiana, his 70.3 efforts were "medium dazzlle" by comparison. Since his return to Minnesota, his Sprint and Olympic winning continued, and Damon would argue that he had gotten faster since coming north, but his PR at 70.3 improved by 12-minutes.
Still, Youngdahl's 2022 performances, though elevated, did not surprise anyone, whereas Gildea's and Kershaw's did. So, Matt was tasked with arguing on Gildea's behalf for MI, and Damon will give reasons for favoring Kershaw.
KERSHAW - Damon believes that if a 2022 Team Minnesota were to be announced, Gildea would rank above Kershaw. But because Stuart, an Iowan who didn't relocate to Minnesota until 2021, had earlier results (2019) that portended his rise to elite status, whereas Kershaw's had a steeper climb to a claim a place among our region's elite amateurs....
