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Praise for Julia...

Sunday, 20 October 2024 00:10

By Garfunkel

In 2024, there were 4 women who deserved a Grand Master of the Year nomination. This made deciding on 3 official nominees an excruciatingly difficult task for Simon and me. We literally had days’ worth of back-and-forth emails debating which 3 women would make the cut, and who would just miss it. In the end, after both of us changed our mind because of the other’s arguments, we agreed that Jan, Christel, and Cheryl edged out Julia Weisbecker, 58, from Eagen by the narrowest of margins. I initially favored Julia over one of the women who did receive a nomination, and both Simon and I felt strongly that Julia needed her own shoutout.

This season saw Julia start off her campaign by rocking a 5:12:29 at Des Moines 70.3. She continued with a 4th overall at Chisago olympic in 2:23:22. This time, for a Grand Master woman, on the hot and windy day that transpired at Chisago’s Paradise Park, was insanely impressive. She wrapped up her year with a 3rd overall at Square Lake sprint....

This is probably the toughest MMH category that Simon and I are evaluating this year. And no, we are still not certain that we got it right. We love that Julia raced a sprint, an olympic, and a 70.3, excelling at each distance. However, what tilted the scale in the slightest way towards the other 3 deserving women was race volume, each turning in 4+ stellar efforts while Julia had 3. The MMH committee evaluates an athlete’s racing resume as a whole, and if Julia had 1 or 2 more results, she may have earned a nomination.

With all this being said, congratulations on a fantastic season to Julia, Jan, Christel, and Cheryl. We are already anticipating another tight GMOY battle in 2025!