Race Coverage
Soccer Girl & Dr. Evil...
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Monday, 22 July 2013 01:10
Chaska X - The 10th edition of the Chaska Triathlon featured fallen records, a surprise star, a brief un-forecasted rainstorm and the race director getting his head shaved. The first record to fall was courtesy of defending champ Kyle Serreyn, who lowered Nick Madrinich's 2009 CR from 1:09:17 to 1:06:38. Runner-up Bob Wolter, who placed 3rd here in 2012 and 4th in 2011, pushed Kyle to his stellar performance. (You can read about that cool mano-a-mano battle on Kyle's Blog: LINK.) Wolter also dipped under Madrinich's old mark, posting a 1:07:37.
Jordan Buth rounded out the men's podium, his 3rd place finish (1:12:59) was arguably his best performance to date.
The next record to get shattered was the women's CR. Doing that job was Olivia Bagnall, a collegiate soccer star who was making her tri debut. Posting the splits of an established star...
(2nd fastest women's swim split, 21 mph and a 19:28 5K), the richly tanned Bagnall, who may or may not be Kyle Serreyn's girlfriend (they both deny that there's anything "going on" between them), finished 11th overall in an awesome 1:14:59, which lowered by 1:18 a women's course record that had stood since 2005! FYI, that former record holder was three-time Minnesota Master of the Year and perennial member of Team Minnesota, Heidi Keller-Miler.
Bagnall plans to race several more times this season and the race for the Rookie of the Year trophy will be interesting.At this point in time, Olivia and Nicloe Heininger are the frontrunners.
Age group course bests were set by Carol Markham-Cousins, 58, who lowered her own 2010 mark substantially (from 1:29:17 to 1:25:57!), Linda Schnobrich, 60 (2:15:49) and Leslie Englert, 46, who finished 3rd overall in a time (1:18:15) that torched Robin Tedlund's 2005 45-49W prior best by 1:44.
Finishing between Bagnall and Englert was Kristin Weinzierl (1:17:41), who rocked a 7th place finish at Buffalo Olympic in early June.
The "rain thing" was a bit of a bummer, though not enough despoil this fine event.
And yes, race founder/director Michael Beckman, who is a totally good guy, got his head shaved at the race. It was a fundraising deal for cancer research. If you looked at Michael after the shorning from a distance of more than 50 feet and squinted, you might think he looked a little bit like Dr. Evil (photo L). We mean that in a good way. Baldness can be beautiful, unless we're taking about those hairless cats. They're hideous.
