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Minnesota's 2025 Tri Season is Underway!
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Sunday, 04 May 2025 00:10
39th Tinman Triathlon - 2016 MInnesota Junior of the Year MITCHELL CLAYTON won the Buzz Ryan Sprint in 2017, his 6th career tri victory. His next W was seven years later (2024) at Tri Clear Lake, where he set an amateur course record. There's many good reasons for his dry spell. College, work, grad school and marriage. But he bounced back strong last year and it appears that 2025 will be an even more successful year for him, one that may even land him a spot on Team MInnesota. Why? He crushed the competition at the Morris Tinman Intermediate distance triathlon yesterday. His 1:43:03 not only gave him a 17-minute margin of victory, it was the event's fastest time in more than a decade. A pair of Team MN athletes won th last two editions of this race in times that were and 1:43 and 2:08 slower than Mitchell's. Granted, good weather undoubtedly played a role, as conditions at Tinman are typically cold, windy and often wet. Still, in the amended words of poet/philosopher Neil Young, Mitch "rocked like a hurricane." ...
"A Sucker for Small Minnesota Triathlon"...
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Thursday, 01 May 2025 00:10
By Spencer Syvertson
Local Minnesota Triathlon Choices - As we enter the 2025 triathlon season I’d like to share my experiences of different events around the state. I’m a sucker for small Minnesota triathlons. Below you will find bullet point highlights of each event and what makes them unique. I hope you can find a race for you this summer!
Tinman Triathlon in Morris, MN. (Sprint and Olympic)
* Pool swim
* Smaller field
* Beginner friendly
This event is my favorite rust-buster to start off the season. It takes place in early May with a pool swim before heading out the door for the bike and run. If you are afraid of cooler weather then this is not the event for you. The early season date can bring lower temperatures along with gusty winds of western Minnesota. If you want a lowkey race with absolutely no pressure then hop right in! ...
CR for Sean. PR for Kadie...
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Monday, 28 April 2025 00:10
Photo - Men's Top 3 - Soren Schwendeman (4:30:02), Sean Cooley (4:10:53) and Brandon Lee (4:18:13)
SQUARE LAKE 70.3 - In 2019, JOSH MORK won the Square Lake Half in course record time: 4:11:39. That performance earned him a Performance of the Year nomination. SEAN COOLEY kicked of his tri season, which he balances with his running and cycling seasons, with a 4:07 5th place finish at Ironman. 70.3 Des Moines. He followed that up with a 4:14 2nd place effort under brutal conditions (heat and wind) at Chisago. Earlier this week he decided to take on the Square Lake Half, our state's most challenging long course event, a race he won in 2023 in 4:23. His result placed him in the Performance and Triathlete of the Year conversations. Leading from the get-go he time-trialed his way to a new course record 4:10:53.
Wait a minute! Didn't Wisconsin's PATRICK ALLAIRE's 4:10:59 in 2020 steal the CR from Mork? Nope. The swim was shortened to a half-mile that year.
And while Sean's performance can be called a runaway, let's not discount BRANDON LEE's 2nd-placing 4:18:13, a Masters Record, and whch lowered his 70.3 personal best by more than five minutes. Lee appears to be a shoo-in for a Master of the Year nomination....
Sean & Vanessa....
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Friday, 25 April 2025 00:10
SQUARE LAKE SPRINT COVERAGE - On Saturday, SEAN COOLEY and KADIE HOKANSON were runaway winners at the Square Lake 70.3. Sunday's Sprint race was just the opposite. Only 13-seconds separated the top two men, and the positions would likely have been reversed if the run course were a half-mile longer.
Thirty ticks was all that came between the top two women on this scenic and challenging .5 -18.5 - 5K course.
Last year's runner-up and this year's pre-race favorite, SEAN PICKLE, 19, enjoyed a two-minute lead out of the water and after the bike, but four-time Square Lake Sprint podium finisher STEVE STENZEL picked up some seconds coming out of T2 and proceeded to take 30-seconds-per mile bites out of Pickle's lead, but he needed a little more real estate to overtake the two-time Junior of the Year nominee.
The W was Pickle's fourth of the 2024 season.
Novelty, Personalization & Fun...
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Tuesday, 22 April 2025 00:10
"We're going to (mini) Worlds!"
(Words by Doobie Kurus, photos courtesy of Jay Dellis)
10 years ago (11 actually if you include the 1+ year of planning the first tri), I wanted to create an event implementing the things I liked about some triathlons that I had participated in myself. Things like doable distances for newcomers, fun prizes, novelty post race food (for all), personalized race bibs, t-shirts people want to wear, good comunication to participants, reasonable entry fees, etc. Flash forward to this year, and after checking off all those things, at first I'd say, "mission accomplished!" But, if you know me, you realize I won't stop there. I already have fun plans for next year's event in the works. ...
