Race Coverage
A Plethora of Highlights...
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Tuesday, 07 June 2016 00:10
BUFFAL0 TRIATHLON COVERAGE - In a race with a plethora of highlights, it's hard to know where to begin. The fact that all four overall winners (Olympic and Sprint) set course records might be a good place to start? Or the fact that a total of 16 (!) divisional marks were rewritten might be a good launching pad.....
Wait! Four amateur men managed to break two hours in the Olympic race. In the twelve year history of the (Olympic) event, that is unprecented.
More impressive perhaps, is that seven women managed to crack 2:20. That, too, has never happened before.
We could start by describing how Wade Cruser, this year's breakout male athlete, almost ran down eventual runner-up Sean Cooley. Only one second separated them in the end. The sprint to the finish was thrilling. We couldn't believe that neither guy puked.
Certainly Cheryl Zitur's sprint course victory would be an excellent place to start. Her performance was a Course Record, Masters Record and 50-54W record. To us, Cheryl ranks alongside Kelly Dippold (KS) and Kirsten Chapman (OK) as the best 50-54 female triathletes in the entire country.
It's time to admit that we're fibbing. There is one highlight that, we think you'll agree, trumps all the others. On Saturday, Hanna Grinaker (photo L with Sean Cooley--they're dating, you know!) entered her first triathlon, the New Bri Tri. She won it. Her swim was solid and her bike and run splits were insane, the stuff of a national class veteran. Her 1:07:34 was the fastest women's time in the history of the event, and 3:28 faster than the next quickest performance (Jenny Wilcox's 1:11:02 in 2010). Yes, we understand that courses get tweaked. Still...just sayin'.
Proving that her effort in New Brighton wasn't a fluke, or that the course was signifcantly shorter than advertised, the next day she toed the starting line of the Buffalo Olympic next to the deepest women's field that event has ever seen.
In 6th out of the water, more than four minutes behind the leader, only eventual winner Kortney Haag was able to post a faster bike split. As expected, Hanna outran all of her peers was able to overtake everyone except Haag, who had turned in a CR on the two-year-old route, a 2:10:08.
Grinaker's 2nd place time was unbelievable, a 2:10:58. Very few women have ever gone that fast in their Olympic debut. Remember, this was Hanna's second triathlon, and it took place only 25 hours after her virginity-losing first race.
It also needs to be mentioned that she managed to outrace three members at Team Minnesota.
Grinaker's immediate emergence reminds us of former Minnesota Rookies of the Year Sarah Kolpin (2005) and Jenny Shaughnessy (2010), women who were able to outrace Team Minnesota-level competition from the get-go. Even Heather Lendway and Dani Vsetecka needed to get a season of racing behind them before they started taking down the recognized stars in the region.
So, for us, the biggest story of the day was Hanna Grinaker's mind-blowing performance. Just when you thought that the well of female talent in Minnesota couldn't get any deeper, along comes an instant star like Hanna. Very cool.
We can't wait to watch her race again.
In tidbit form, here are some other Buffalo highlights:
- Matt Payne's CR time was 1:54:15, which shaved 11 seconds off Dylan Gillespie's former mark.
- Andy Wiberg's CR time in the sprint was 57:06, which was 4:10 faster than the prior record. Andy also won this race in 2012.
- Multisport newcomer Corey Towle, followed up his 6th at Apple with a 5th place finish. We're anxious to follow his rise among his male peers. A Rookie of the Year nomination (alongside Hanna Grinaker) could be in his future.
- Here are some of the women's personal bests on Buffalo's more challenging two-year-old Olympic course:
- Kortney Haag - 1st - 2:10:08 (2015 - 2nd - 2:13:16)
- Christina Roberts - 3rd - 2:12:30 (2015 - 3rd - 2:13:41)
- Sheena Dauer - 7th - 2:19:30 (2015 - 7th - 2:20:09)
- The male performance of the day was turned in by 61-year-old Greg Taylor, now of Yankton, South Dakota. The two-time US Grand Master of the Year posted a 2:08:36, which landed him in 12th place overall. Crazy, right?
The following athletes lowered their AG's course records:
OLYMPIC
- W19U - Jade Frederickson - 2:53:50 (-19:22)
- 40-44W - Andrea Myers - 2:16:33 (-9:44)
- 50-54W - Kris Kolenz - 2:43:07 (-3:12)
- 55-59M - David Goldberg - 2:22:23 (-4:10)
- 55-59W - Lisa Gilliland - 3:06:48 (-6:01)
- 60-64M - Greg Taylor - 2:08:36 (-2:58)
- SPRINT -
- 40-44M - Jeff Glover - 1:03:44 (-:54)
- 40-44W - Juli Currie - 1:10:19 (-1:24)
- 45-49W - Laura Swartz - 1:07:21 (-1:48)
- 50-54M - Craig Peterson - 1:04:28 (-:35)
- 50-54W - Cheryl Zitur - 1:03:22 (-18:26) (photo above R with son Jon)
- 55-59M - Kevin Grafft - 1:07:38 (-:25)
- 60-64M - Leonard Klun - 1:08:08 (-1:11)
- 60-64W - Leslie Stanaway - 1:21:46 (-10:09)
- 65-69M - Forrest Peterson - 1:20:24 (-3:00)
- 75-79M - Clark Worthington - 1:39:54
We would be remiss if we didn't mention the Graniteman Events people, who produced the event. It was first class all the way. Don't forget to sign up for the second race in the G-Man Tri Series in Clearwater on July 10, if you haven't done so already.
