Race Coverage
Monumentally Unsucky...
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Tuesday, 17 September 2013 02:10
(Photo - This cool MinnefotaMoments photo of Ross honking a Sports Loogie has nothing to do with this story.)
Fall Classic Duathlon VII – The weather for last May’s Oakdale Du was nightmarish. It was cold and sleety and windy. Twas a monumentally sucky day.
Fast forward to last Saturday for the 7th annual Fall Classic Duathlon at Lake Elmo Park, the same venue used for Oakdale. Conditions were wonderfully autumnal: Hayride Weather, i.e. sunny with a smattering of cirrus clouds, light breezes and temps in the low 60s. The day was monumentally unsucky ....
In the women’s race, course record holder Suzy Fox, a national class duathlete, was facing Jenn Scudiero, our state’s most successful run-bike-runner in 2013. Scuderio came into the race with five du wins in eight starts. She didn’t expect to beat Fox, though. She was focused instead on 
closing the gap between herself and Suzie, something that would require a significant lowering of her 1:17 PR on this 3-14.2-2.8 course.
An aggressive racer with a great smile and cute daughter and a very cool husband who is a math genius, Jenn bulled her way to a 2nd place finish in 1:13:15 and was seriously pleased.
Suzie deserved to be seriously pleased, as well. Not only did she record her 17th career win, she managed to lower her own course record from 1:10:51 to 1:10:33, which was fast enough to land her in the overall Top 5.
Third through fifth in the women’s race went to Jennifer Fitzharris-Funk 1:18:28), Lisa Wacek (1:19:05) and Shelley Ostrander (1:20:35).
Suzie’s boyfriend, Brendon O’Flanagan, was pushed hard throughout the race by Joe Johnson, but managed to prevail by a 22-second margin. Twas the second time this season that the boyfriend/girlfriend team shared a Winner’s Circle. They also co-won at Shell Lake.
For Brendon, the victory lightened his despair over his DNF (mechanical stuff at mile 85) at Ironman Wisconsin the previous weekend. He was rocking socks when his two-wheeler took a dump.
Earning third through fifth for the guys were Emmanuel Darne (1:08:47), Peter Wenzel (1:09:32) and Nolan Barrios (1:12:33). Approximately 150 athletes participated. RESULTS
(Photo L - Seventygenarian, Hammerin' Hank Larsen)
