Race Coverage

Weekend Observations...

Monday, 23 June 2014 07:10

(Photo - Oklahoma's Travis Newton and BOUS Champ Matt Payne wearing shirts that Kevin O'Connor had made for Matt's fans. We cherish ours and will wear it often.)

The MTN Guys look back on Minnesota's eight-race weekend:

LAKE MINNETONKA OBSERVATIONS - Awesome, as always. Ross and Tina pour their hearts into this event and it totally shows. And the weather was totally cooperative.

We are still having trouble wrapping our brains around Heather Lendway's performance. A freakin' 1:04:53! We recall the all-time great amateur female triathletes, women like Donna Kay Ness (CT), Maryellen Powers (NH), Joanna Zeiger (MD), Margie Shapiro (VA) et al. In our opinion, HL is a cut above them all, and we've been observing the sport since 1978.

 - The Roberts girls, mom Deb, daughter Christina, impressed our pants off on Saturday. Deb flattened her own 60-64W CR. Add this to the divisional CRs she set at Liberty Olympic and Buffalo and you have the makings of a Grand Master of the Year nomination at season's end. Her daughter Christina placed 2nd overall in 1:11:14, only...

Heather Lendway and Cathy Yndestad have posted faster times on this route. A Most Improved nomination and a spot on Team Minnesota may come her way this year.

GRANITEMAN ST. CLOUD - We think it is totally cool that sisters Greta and Paige Danielson went one-two last Saturday. The men's race was won by the fellow who placed 2nd in the "Nicest Guy in the Whole, Wide World" contest last year: Thad Ingersoll. (A dude from Canada won. A  guy from New Jersey finished last.) Good guys don't always finish last. Sometimes they win.

CAPITOL CITY SPRINT - We love this race with every fiber of our being, but we're prejudiced as heck. That's because it was founded and produced by one of the MTN Guys: Trudy Marshall, aka "Trudles." She encourages all participants with ideas and suggestions to contact her (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). She is committed to making this event first class in every possible way.

The athlete who impressed us the most, and many, many people impressed us,on Sunday was 50-year-old Tracy Serreyn, who placed 3rd overall in the women's competition! She is undefeated in divisional competition thus far in 2014 and her times have been smokin' fast. A MMA nomination may come her way at the conclusion of the racing season.

BEST OF THE US - The visiting athletes raved about the venue and the quality of competition. The event was designed to create an environment wherein an athlete can push him or herself to the next level, and so many did just that on Sunday.

Though Matt Payne came into the race as The Favorite, he knew that without an A-race mentality and a 100+% effort he could not become the Series' first two-time champ. Did his win require a true breakout performance? Not sure, but we plan to post Matt's race report as soon as he writes the darn thing.

Those who did have breakout efforts include:

- Marcus Stromberg - Finishing 3rd overall, Marcus truly took his game up several notches. He used to be known as a "strong" racer. Now his peers have to respect his speed.

- Gaby Bunten - Racing for Team Iowa, the Forest Lake resident followed up her first career victory at Liberty Olympic with a 7th place finish at BOUS. Her Olympic distance PR had been 2:18, but her 2:08:54 on BOUS' "International-range" course--1300m swim - 24.45 bike - 10K run--was the Olympic equivalent of a 2:12. VERY happy for Gaby. She is transformed as an athlete and her peers had better respect her.

- Kevin O'Connor - KO is too self-effacing to brag about his performances and he'd probably say his 4th place overall finish in his BOUS debut was "no Big Deal." But it was a Big Deal. His splits were awesome, especially his run. His 1:54 at Lake Phalen would probably translate to a 1:55-56 at Milwaukee, where Nationals will be held in August.

- Sean Cooley - North Dakota's numero uno and Honorary Minnesotan, Sean placed 5th at BOUS. On paper, that wasn't supposed to happen. We thought a great effort could get him perhaps a 7th. We are so glad to be wrong.

And we are soooo happy for all who participated at BOUS IX (sounds like a Pope's name, doesn't it?), not just the Minnesotans and those with Minnesota ties. Everyone raced their respective asses off.

It was a beautiful thing to watch. It truly was.

ROCHESTERFEST - We see a possible Master of the Year nomination in Chap Achen's near future. His victorious 2:01:12 was only seconds off Kevin O'Connor's Masters Record, set in 2013. The Chapster also set a MR at Trinona two weeks ago.

We are becoming more-and-more impressed with Bridget McCoy, who shared the Winner's Circle with Achen on Sunday at Foster Arend Park in Rochester. We believe it was Bridge's (she probably hates to be called,"Bridge," or "Bridgie.") fourth career win. She might be in line for another "Most Improved" nomination. (She was an MI nominee in 2013.)

We are also impressed that 400+ people had registered for the event. Not an attendance record, to be sure, but a damn fine turnout considering that RF was one of EIGHT multis staged on Minnesota real estate last weekend.

MANITOU SPRINT - Our records suggest that Lindsey Palmer's victory here on Sunday was the first win of her multisport career. We love it when folks break through and win their first race. Doing so leads to subsequent such triumphants, just ask Jen Neuman or Angie Hop, who started winning races after they turned 40. Lindsey (photo R with an adorable Lab puppy) didn't have to wait that long, however. She is 28.