Race Coverage
New Kid...
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Tuesday, 23 May 2023 00:10
APPLE DUATHLON COVERAGE - Men's Race - ANDY ZABEL's second straight Apple win, the fifteen multisport victory of his career, was decided on the bike. He was ten seconds behind leader/future tri star MICAH WARNING (photo) when he saddled-up coming out of T1. That time was erased quickly. He then outrode is closest challengers--Warning and BROOKS GROSSINGER, by an average of 1.5 and 1.1 mph faster respectively. A solid second run was all he needed to seal the deal. His final finish time was 1:25:55, a 34-second improvement on his prior best on this course.
Grossinger had almost a two minute lead on Warning entering T2, but that would not be enough to hold off Warning, a former Winona State track and cross country runner, who outsplit the field significantly in the final phase.
Warning, a relative newcomer to tri and du, finished 2nd in 1:28:21. That he held his own against Zabel, 2022 Minnesota Master of the Year, and Grossinger, owner of 39 tri and du wins thus far, and doing so on a road bike, was all the fuel he needed to optimistically pursue his next...
Whitney's Breakout Performance...
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Sunday, 21 May 2023 00:10
APPLE DUATHLON COVERAGE - We've said it many times that a race doesn't have to be large to be awesome. (And big races are not automaticaly better than smaller ones.) Yesterday's Apple Duathlon, fielding only 130ish participants, was a prime example of that claim. It was awesome event, enhanced by perfect weather and a celebratory vibe. After a protracted winter, the 2023 racing season is finally underway. What's not to ceebrate....
Syvertson Crushes Course Record at Tinman XXXVIII...
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Tuesday, 09 May 2023 00:10
38th Morris Tinman Sprint & Olympic - Alexandria's swole BRIAN STORHAUG collected his second consecutive win at Tinman Sprint on May 6. The W was, according to our records, the 8th of Brian's impressive triathlon career. His clocking--59:32--was the second fastest in event history, eclipsed ony by his 2022 time of 57:33. Our guess is that weather conditions were more accomodating last season....
Triathletes Impress at Earth Day...
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Monday, 24 April 2023 00:10
2023 EARTH DAY RUNS - A pair of prominent Minnesota triathletes turned in triumphant performances last Friday and Saturday at the 23rd edition Earth Day Runs, St. Cloud's largest endurance event.
As in 2022, weather conditions were, for lack of better words, not great. The two-thousandish dressed-in-layers participants once again were buffetted by arctic winds. On Friday evening 2022 Male Master Triathlete of the Year Andy Zabel pushed ahead of local multiple EDR winners Jonathan Stoltman, Morcelli Kombo and William Lindell to claim victory in the 5K, his 16:45 landing him at the finish line seventeen seconds in front of Stoltman....
Tuffles, Pit Boards & Energy Pellets
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Friday, 21 April 2023 00:10
By Ted Treise
Ironman 70.3 Augusta - The 2022 version was year number... FOUR for me at Augusta. Crazy to think I’ve raced each running of the race since 2018. Each year’s been special. 2018 was my first overall amateur win, 2019 was my first pro race, 2021 I had a breakout day with a sub 3:50 time. This year my goal was to have a fast swim and invest everything I had to make that front group on the bike then whatever happens happens on the run.
Swim
Augusta’s swim is a notoriously fast downriver swim. For the pro’s its typically non-wetsuit meaning we’re all in swim skins. Knowing how important it was for me to make a good group, I went all in with my tri suit down under my skin for max shoulder mobility.
After the national anthem, we jumped in, warmed up and jockied for position on the dock. Last year I lined up towards the middle of the river and it seemed like the shore side got a better jump in the current so this year I did the opposite with an inside line. The gun went off and for the first 5 minutes it was mayhem. Typically, in a deep water start you can tread water and be horizontal, but Augusta its more like AG nationals with everyone hanging on a floating dock then scrambling to get horizontal. To my right, Filipe went out of a cannon leaving a nice gap that became prime real-estate for clean water. A few of us got in a tuffle for it and lost a bit of time. After organizing ourselves a group got away and we were the third pack from what I could see....
Katie's Day...
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Monday, 17 April 2023 00:10
SQUARE LAKE 70.3 - Fast times, much less personal bests, are hard to come by at Square Lake. The bike and run courses are arguably the most challenging in our region. (We are not including "Extreme" off road long distance tris.) The current routes have been in place since 2018 and only five men had broken 4:25, and five women have bettered 5-hours.
Last Sunday, though, two of the top three women set career PRs, and two of the Top 3 men did likewise.
In our preview, we picked KRIS SPOTH and KATIE DEREGNIER as favorites, Kris because of past credentials; Katie because she was ready to, as they say, bust out.
Well, Spoth used a strong bike split followed by the fastest run of the morning to post a winning 4:17:25, the second fastest time here ever, and one that had to be as, or more, satisfying as his 4:13 personal best set in Racine back in 2015.
Since 2013, Kris has recorded at least twelve multisport victories....