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2026's Grand Masters...

Thursday, 01 October 2026 00:10

By Bullwinkle

2026 Grand Master of the Year Notes - Jan Guenther has been named Grand Master of the Year five times. Tim Brown is a three-time GMOY, Cheryl Zitur has earned this honor twice, and Luke Harned ran away with the men's GMOY last year. What these national-class athletes have in common this year is that they are all ineligible for this recognition in 2026. We know that all but Harned are injured, and Luke is taking tim eoff to travel and do fun stuff. 

What this means in that most of the eventual GMOY nominees will be first-timers. Of this list we are sharing here, only Julia Weisbecker, Rod Raymond and Christel Kippenhan have has been nominated in the past. 

Here, in alpha order, are the athletes being considered for GMOY nominations:

Men:

Jeff Gilmer, 66, Annandale

Jeff has ten (!) AG wins this year, a half dozen of them in out of state races. 

Chuck Hengel, 62, Wayzata

Chuck's 2026 highlights include big AG wins: Buffalo Olymic, Timberman Olympic and Maple Grove Olympic.

Rod Raymond, 61, Duluth

In three regional races, Rod has one overall 6th and two 7ths, one of which yielded a AG record.

Keith Tufte, 66, Wayzata

Top 10 overall finishes at Turtleman Sprint and Chisago Sprint, plus AG wins at Sprint Nationals and Maple Grove Sprint are Keith's 2026 racing highlights.

Women:

Mary Deeg, 64, Annandale

2026 competitive highlights include five out-of-state AG wins, and divisional wins at Timberman Sprint, Big Lake and Lakes Country.

Christel Kippenhan, 61, Bemidji

Christel rocked in the women's overall finishes at Timberman Sprint (2nd!), Maple Grove Sprint (4th) and Buffalo Sprint (6th). She also placed 2nd at Sprint Nationals. She also won her AG at DL Sprint Nationals.

Julia Weisbecker, 60, St. Paul

With AG-record 70.3 wins at Oceanside and Muncie (4:59:48!), ulia established herself as our country's premier 60+ half iron female racer. She also was the overall women's winner at Buffalo Olympic and cracked the overall women's Top 5 at Maple Grove (2:14:47). won Buffalo Olympic women's title. Yes, her local wins produced AGRs.

This list may not include everyone who deserves mention, and we will update as needed.