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Brisk Racing...Updated...
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Sunday, 04 August 2024 00:10
2024 GREEN LAKE INTERMEDIATE PREVIEW - We are anticipating some brisk racing next Sunday at the 18th edition of the Green Lake Intermediate (.75 - 22 - 6) Triathlon. Defending champ COREY NYGAARD is returning. He's racing at a Team Minnesota level this season and, weather permitting, become the 13th man to break 1:50 here. He'll need that kind of time to repeat. He'll be facing JOE ADRIAENS, a legitimate sub-2-hour Olympic-distance racer. Will Joe have put his Covid symptoms behind him by race time? We're guessing he will.
UPDATE: Corey Nygaard collected his third W of the season this morning at Hoot Lake by a four-minute margin.
MERILEA OSTERLUND has two wins and a pair of 3rds in this race. Her PR here is 2:07. We're picking her to finish 2nd on Sunday behind KADIE HOKANSON, who is making her Green Lake debut. Kadie was nominated for Master of the Year last year and her times are even more impressive this season. A sub-2:04 would be one of this race's Top 10 fastest women's times ever. We think that Kadie is ready to throw down that kind of performance.
AG Prediction: We believe the husband/wife team of JEFF GILMER, 65, and MARY DEEG, 62, will rewrite their respective divisional records. Jeff already owns the 60-64M mark. Jeff will need to better 2:19:07, which we believe is very doable. Mary need a sub-2:30:34. A lot to ask? Sure....
Magic Kona Coffee Beans...
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Friday, 02 August 2024 00:10
By Kenneth Downer
Instead of a typical blow-by-blow race report, this one simply shares a few vignettes from my experience at Ironman Lake Placid 2024 to convey a sense of the race and the atmosphere of an Ironman event. I hope you enjoy it.
Before the Gun.
• 3:15 AM. Coffee. The beans I grind are part of a quarterly delivery I get from Kona, Hawaii. My daughter and I toured the Heavenly Hawaiian Farms coffee plantation after I raced on the Big Island in 2019. I signed up for regular shipments to maybe keep that Kona spirit alive. I hope that perhaps those beans might somehow add a little something special to my race today.
• Standing with our toes in the moist sand on the starting beach of Mirror Lake, we listen as a local singer belts out the National Anthem with commendable skill. Her final words are drowned out as an Apache helicopter gunship roars out of the leaden sky and over our heads.....
Caryn & Jack, Cheryl and Nick...
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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 00:10
CHISAGO LAKES OLYMPIC COVERAGE - There were plenty of awesome performances in Sunday's Chisago Lakes Olympic Triathlon. The race is young, only three years old, and many of the AG records are a bit soft, so it wasn't earth-shattering that eleven of the sixteen non-open class (00-19, 40 & over) age groups saw record times despite the heat and wind. Some of those performances were truly special, like JULIA WESIBECKER's 55-59 effort that landed her in 4th place overall in the women's race, or THOMAS WOODS' 50-54M performance, which landed him in 8th place overall. Woods is a highly decorated elite master from Nebraska....
Kim & Jasper...
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Monday, 29 July 2024 00:10
CHISAGO LAKES 70.3 COVERAGE - In the days leading up to this year's races, ELENA JASPER decided not to race in the Olympic event, and instead tackle the 70.3...
Locals Impress at Alexandria...
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Sunday, 28 July 2024 00:10
ALEXANDRIA TRIATHLON COVERAGE - Unless the internet was mistaken, conditions facing the triathlons were not ideal. It was a pretty. day to look at, but temps had already reached eighty and wind gusted at twenty-plus miles-per-hour. Conservative pacing with lots of internal and external hydration seemed to be called for. Forget about PRs and course records.
Some athletes ignored that memo. SPENCER SYVERTSON turned in what was probably his finest performance ever in June at the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon, where he placed a close 2nd behind the seemingly unbeatable Preston Youngdahl. He demonstrated a new level of speed and tenacity on that day. His performance at Alex last Saturday was arguably superior to his LMT effort. He not only won the race handily, he nuked the men's race record. (Note: New 5K run course.) Outstanding splits in each discipline kept him in front of 2023 champ, and eventual runner-up COREY NYGAARD, who like Spencer, should recive Most Improved Triathlete nominations at season's end. It would be cool to have two Alexandria residents on the list of MI nominees....
