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LENDWAY IS AOY! MATT & TONY ARE HM...

Friday, 06 March 2015 06:00

Photo - 2014 AOY Heather Lendway and AOY HM Dani Fischer.

BREAKING NEWS - We are bumping Jeff Gilmer's Life Time - Maple Grove Indoor Tri race report, which posted this morning, until Sunday so that we can link to USAT's announcement of the 2014 Athletes of the Year and the Honorable Mentions. As expected, HEATHER LENDWAY was the female AOY. HMs were earned by MATTHEW PAYNE (AOY) and TONY SCHILLER (Master of the Year). Honorary Minnesotans DANI FISHCER and GREG TAYLOR were aslo honored. Taylor blew away his competition for Grand Master of the Year, and Fischer was runner-up to Lendway for the AOY.

Tomorrow we will post USAT Duathletes of the Year, which were dominated by Minnesotans. If it wasn't clear before, it should be obvious now that Minnesota is America's Duathlon Capitol.

Here is USAT's AOY Press Release:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Eight top amateur triathletes in the United States, including national and world champions, have been named USA Triathlon’s 2014 Age-Group Triathletes of the Year, an award presented annually by Garmin and selected by USA Triathlon’s Age Group Committee....

“The commitment and dedication of our top athletes paid off in their race results and ultimately in their selection as USA Triathlon Athletes of the Year. Many of the candidates that we considered were literally neck-to-neck in some of the most competitive triathlons we have ever had,” said Steve Sutherland, chair of the USA Triathlon Age Group Committee Athlete of the Year Subcommittee. “The selection committee worked very hard to evaluate our largest pool of candidates to date. The depth and quality of these triathletes impressed every member of the subcommittee. We salute their selection and congratulate them.”

Daniel Stubleski (Washington, Mich.) and Heather Lendway (St. Paul, Minn.) received top billing, winning the overall Age-Group Triathlete of the Year honors. Stubleski, who received the award last year, won the 2014 USA Triathlon Long Course National Championships title, and was the first amateur finisher at IRONMAN World Championship, IRONMAN 70.3 Racine and IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead. Lendway defended her overall title at USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance Nationals in Milwaukee, and was the first overall finisher among all women at the ITU Standard (Olympic-distance) World Championships in Edmonton, Alberta. Lendway also won Life Time Tri Minneapolis and Life Time Tri Trinona with course records. READ MORE