Race Coverage

Wind & Sneaky People...

Monday, 29 July 2013 05:10

(Photo - Sneaky guy, Brian Sames.)

Chisago Half VIII - A couple of sneaky people sorta stole the show at Sunday's Chisago "71" (bike course was 1K long due to road work stuff), which was contested under cool (low 50s), mostly cloudy and extremely windful conditions. Sure, David Thompson lived up to his "Favorite" billing, winning easily for the fifth consecutive year. And yes, Dan Hedgecock finished 2nd again and Matt Payne was the fastest amateur. That's good stuff, but predictable.

What wasn't foreseeable, perhaps, was Brian Sames' (pronounced "som-ess") awesome long course debut. Last season's Rookie of the Year runner-up timidly eschewed signing up for the Elite Wave, launching 12 minutes back in Wave 5 instead. Seemingly out of contention for a Top 5 finish after the first two legs of the race, Brian, now mustacheless, hammered a 1:15 run split. The result was a 4:16:04 debut, just six seconds behind likely 2013 US Athlete of the Year nominee Payne, and 1:13 ahead of the Dan Arlandson, who discovered, to his chagrin, at the Awards Ceremony that he had placed 5th, not 4th.

The same sort of thing happened in the women's "71." While Diane Hankee lived up to her favored status, posting a circumstantially awesome 4:46:08, a Wave 3 girl stole the 2nd place trophy and prize money from Kortney Haag, who rocked a sweet 4:47:07. That sneaky ..