Race Coverage

Walker & Chaska Stuff... More Updates...

Thursday, 24 July 2014 06:10

CHASE THE POLICE TRIATHLON - Tomorrow this race will celebrate its 5th birthday. Approximately 375 participants will be in Walker for the .25 - 17 - 2.4 celebration.

We think that history will be rewritten, first of all by Brian Sames, who we think will lower Taggart's Downare's 2010 course record time of 1:05:10. Despite having raced at Racine 70.3 last weekend, we predict that Brian, last year's Most Improved Award winner, will post a time in the 1:04-flat range.

We also predict that Buffalo Sprint winner Cheryl Zitur will defend her women's title and lower her gender's masters record.

We believe that at least two AG marks will fall. We predict that Raquel Wohlik, 17, will take a a nice bite out of the Junior CR. The divisional mark that we think will fall the...

hardest, though, is in the men's 60-64 category. We think it will go down by at least 10 minutes courtesy of three-time Minnesota Grand Master of the Year nominee Neil King.

UPDATE: We just learned that race record holder Michelle Andres will be racing, as will Sara Carlson. We now believe that the women's podium will consist of: 1. Andres, 2. Zitur, 3. Carlson.

We also learned that 2013 CPT men's winner Casey Miller will race on Saturday. Miller has won his last three races.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Matt Dickinson just emailed us to say that Michelle Andres, though her name is on the registration list, will not be racing. Oh poop! We were hoping to watch her do that voodoo that do so well. The the last we actually saw her was in June of 2012 at the Libery Half.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Don't trust these updates. We're almost positive that we have been sent last year's registration list. As it stands now, unless someone is pulling our weenie, neither Michelle nor Casey will be racing. Sorry.

(Photo - Chaska AG winner Peggy Hunter and women's overall runner-up Lindsey Palmer.)

CHASKA XI - Last Saturday's Chaska Tri was, as always, a great race, thanks in large part to the conscientious production by director Michael Beckman, who has won the Minnesota's Most Laid-Back Race Director award for eleven consecutive years.

Actually, the race wasn't so great for Lisa Lendway, for whom a win or at least a podium appeared to be a foregone conclusion. As happens to everyone sooner of later, she flatted. But if you know Lisa, you know that she is totally a "Glass Half Full" kinda girl. She took the ordeal in stride and her signature smile never left her face.

With Lendway on the sidelines, Sarah Mercer moved into the outright women's favorite role. She didn't disappoint. In the end, her margin over runner-up Lindsey Palmer, who won her first tri at Manitou last month, was 3:16.

Former Mjet Ryan Bailey recorded what we think was his first career tri win. The former collegiate runner managed to finish ahead of two-time Chaska champ Kyle Serreyn, albeit by only 20 seconds.

The final men's podium step was earned by Bob Wolter, who has cracked the overall Top 3 for the last three years. RESULTS