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Luke is 2025 Male GMOY!

Thursday, 13 November 2025 00:10

By Bonnie and Clyde

2025 Minnesota Multisport Honors - MALE GRAND MASTER OF THE YEAR

Bonnie – In the previous 26 years of the MMHs no man over the age of 70 had been named Grand Master of the Year. There are several good reasons for this. Field size is one. Most notable though is the fact that Minnesota has been home to many world and national class 60-to-69-year olds. Greg Taylor and Tony Schiller and Ben Ewers raced at a world class level in their 60s, and guys like Tim Brown, Neil King and Bill Schmitt were not far behind.

Of the two 60-69ers nominees this year, Rod Raymond had best lived up to the standards set by the aforementioned men. His Age Group record at Ironman 70.3 Michigan was particularly impressive, and his effort at Northwoods was only seconds behind Neil King's long-standing mark. Rod's Shell Lake effort was very solid, but in my opinion, he needed one more elite performance to upend my pick for GMOY....

A perennial nominee for this honor, Luke Harned raced prolifically in 2025, recording at least seven AG wins, all by wide margins and most in AG record time. It's about time that a 70+ Minnesota athlete took this honor. My pick for GMOY is Luke Harned.

Clyde - Bonnie and I agree that Luke Harned, 73, and Rod Raymond, 60, are this year’s frontrunners for the Grand Master of the Year (ages 60+).  Luke raced A LOT, which we absolutely love. He won is age group every time, had wide margins of victory, beat younger peers, and set a few age group records along the way. Undoubtably a great year for Luke.
 
However, Rod, in his first year of Grand Master eligibility, had, in my opinion, slightly higher peaks on his resume than Luke did. For instance, Rod placed 8th at Northwoods, just 6 seconds off Neil King’s age group record. Rod also won his age group at 70.3 Michigan, popping a 4:47:26, an AG record, in the process.
 
So, because of Rod’s slightly higher highs, I view Rod as most deserving for the 2025 Grand Master of the Year honor.

As with the JOY category, a debate ensued. I, Bonnie, am happy to report that though Clyde convinced me to give Corbin Deichman and not Adeline Althause-Kotila the JOY, I was able to get him to come around on Luke Harned. We now both agree that Luke Harned is the 2025 Male GMOY.