Race Coverage

Unmatched Comaraderie...

Wednesday, 19 August 2015 06:10

Photo (L-R) - Daine Hankee, Christina Roberts, Heather Lendway. Lisa Lendway & preggers Olympian Carrie Tollefson, who urges us to eat stuff that's grown in Minnesota. Good advice.

8th YWCA WOMEN'S TRIATHLON - The MTN Guys have been following Minnesota multisports forever and will state unequivocally that 2015 is the "Year of the Woman." What we mean by this is that never before in a single season have so many of our state's multisportwomen emerged as regional, even national, stars. 

And the comaraderie among the top women is unmatched.

This is good stuff. Exciting stuff.

So, while the YWCA Women's Triathlon has always been special, one of the finest women's-only endurance events in the country, to be sure, the vibe at this year's race was even more, er...tingly than ever. In the spirit of celebrating each other and the healthy lifestyles they embrace, the...

triathletes at last Sunday's event put on their greatest show yet. And though MTN concentrates on performance, we want everyone to know that the performance side of this classic event is but a small part of what makes it great.

Still, it's the performance part that we are tasked with commenting on. So let's do that.

- Breaking 1:15 on the Lake Nokomis course (500 yard - 15.5 miles - 5K), which has been in place for the last six years, is a big deal. The women who do that are typically ones who win or podium in other reginal events. Last Sunday, an unprecedented 9 women, starting with rookie pro Heather Lendway (1:03:20) and concluding with 2014 Rookie of the Year nominee Emy Everhart (1:14:57) broke the 75-minute barrier.

- Suffice it to say, a plethora of PRs were turned in. What makes this significant that the YWCA Tri probably has the largest recidivism rate of any tri or du in our state.

- MTN monitors the non-open class (excluding ages 20-39) AG records. Open class AG winners are almost always in the overall Top 10. On Sunday,five AG records were rewritten, all but one of them by significant margins. Check it out:

45-49 - Ann Snuggerud - 1:13:13. Old record, also by Snuggie, was 1:13:20.

55-59 - Jan Guenther - 1:12:37 - In our opinion, the performance of the day. The old AG CR was 1:23:34. Jan placed 5th overall.

60-64 - Carol Markham-Cousins - 1:27:23 - The old mark was 1:31:22.

70-74 - Paulette Smith (WI) - 1:53:30. Old mark was 1:57:51.

75-79 - Judy Rykken - 2:05:44. Old mark was 2:09:31.

- Heather Lendway's victory was a milestone. Since starting in July 2012, she has won 25 triathlons.

- Christina Roberts 2nd place clocking--1:07:34--was the 4th fastest in race history. She was the amateur champion.

- Heather Lendway's sister Lisa placed 2nd last year. The 30-34 Silver Medalist at Nationals finished 3rd this year, but her time was 1:21 faster than in 2014.

- The race for the 45-49 title was hard-fought with two-time Master of the Year nominee Ann Snuggerud clipping Anne Grabowski by 22 seconds. Snuggie placed 6th overall (1:13:13); Grabowski finished 7th (1:13:35).

Approximately 1200 women were registered. The race is directed by Nicole Cueno. If the MMA's included a Race Director of the Year award, we believe that several of them would adorn Nicole's mantle.   RESULTS