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Diane and Kevin Are Masters of the Year!

Monday, 16 November 2020 23:10

MINNESOTA MASTERS OF THE YEAR - DIANE HANKEE, 43, and KEVIN O'CONNOR, 49, have been named this year's MASTERS OF THE YEAR, honors they have earned eight times between them.

Diane was once again a slam dunk selection, while Kevin faced serious competition from Marshfield, Wisconsin's PATRICK ALLAIRE, 42.

Hankee raced thrice in 2020, winning each times. Her victory at Green Lake Olympic was arguably the female Masters Performance of the Year. Her competition was first-time nominee SARAH HUNTER, 46, who raced often (4 times) with solid results, especially in her final two races, which were in northen Iowa. That she was outraced by fellow 40-plussers in both of her Minnesota appearances further cleared the path for Hankee....

All but one of the Selectors favored O'Connor, believing that his 2nd place finish at Green Lake Olympic was the 2nd best male Masters Performanceof the Year behind 42-year-old former pro DAVID THOMPSON's victory at Square Lake Sprint. (DKT was ineleigible for MOY consideration because he only raced once in 2020.) KO's runner-up effort at GLO behind sophomore pro TED TREISE, 26, was by a margin of only 2:23.

And Kevin's 5th at Big Lake was behind four Team Minnesota athletes, including two ATHLETE OF THE YEAR nominees. At that race, Kevin outperformed fellow MOY nominees MIKE BUENTING, 46, and THAD INGERSOLL, 50, boh of whom have been nominated for MOY on multiple occasions.

Advocacy for Allaire was based on the fact that he won both of the Minnesota races he entered. A closer look revealed that he did not face as competitive fields as did KO, and that his win at Square Lake 70.3 appeared to be faster than it actually was. The bike and run were slightly long, as usual, but the swim distance was cut in half. His 4:10:59, thus, translated to a 4:25, which is a very solid time, especially when the cool, misty weather was considered. 

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