Race Coverage

Last Race as an Amateur?

Tuesday, 30 August 2016 07:10

SUPERIOR MAN HALF IM - Since the beginning, Canada has produced some of Triathlon's premier female long distance racers. In the 80s, Sylviane and Patricia Puntous set the international LD standards. In the 90s, Lori Bowden and Heather Fuhr were Paula Newby Fraser's chief rivals in this hemisphere. Since the millennial turn, Heather Wurtele and Magali Tisseyre have helped to keep the performance bar high.

Canada's next female long distance superstar? It just might be NICOLE WALKER, and we suspect that her record-crushing victory at Superior Man last Sunday may be her last race as an amateur.

Walker, an amiable and unassuming 27-year-old Winnipegian, has proven this season that she is the fastest LD female amateur in all of North...

America, not just her home country. She kicked off her 2016 season with an amateur victory at Texas Ironman. Her 8:41:02 on the 123.6 course (bike course was shortened to 95 miles) suggested that she was ready to rock a sub-9:40 on a full course.

She then went on to crush her amateur competition at Florida 70.3 and Racine 43.1. 

Then she registered for Superior Man, where she'd face the formidable likes of Kortney Haag, Christina Roberts, Hanna Grinaker, Erin Klegstad, Valerie Morwwod, Diane Hankee, Andrea Myers and Christine Thompson, the women who would ultimately claim 2nd through 9th, all breaking, most by significant margins, the five-hour mark.

The conditions--cloudy, temps in the 60s, negligible winds and an uncharacteristically flat, and relatively tepid (69 degrees) St. Louis Bay--were as perfect as the competition that would push Walker to a special performance.

Perfect storm.

When all was said and done, four women broke Kortney Haag's year-old race record, 4:43:08. Kort herself broke it by 6:34. Roberts, in her first 70.3 test in six years, broke it by 2:34. And Hanna Grinaker beat it by 1:37.

But Walker (photo L) beat it by more than 18 minutes. And guess what, her 4:25:05 is, and will likely remain, the fastest amateur women's half IM time in North America this year. Additionally, it was even faster that the quickest amateur women's time of 2012: Ruth Brennan Morrey's 4:25:55 at Chisago. (And faster than Dani Fischer's 4:27 at LD Nationals in 2014, the fastest women's 70.3 time that year.)

We got to witness a special race on Sunday, and Walker was not the only star of the show. As we mentioned, a record nine women broke five hours, most setting PRs in the process. Here's the breakdown:

1. NICOLE WALKER, 27, Winnipeg, MAN - 4:25:05 - PR - Fastest women's 70.3 in North America in 2016.

2. KORTNEY HAAG, 37, Maple Grove - 4:36:34 - Kort's 3rd fastest half  IM (PR - 4:34:23 - Chisago '14)

3. CHRISTINA ROBERTS, 30, St. Louis Park - 4:40:34 - PR

4. HANNA GRINAKER, 28, St. Paul - 4:41:31 - PR

5. ERIN KLEGSTAD, 37, Apple Valley - 4:51:38 - PR

6. VALERIE MORWOOD, 37, Kenora, ONT - 4:53:53 - PR

7. DIANE HANKEE, 39, Lino Lakes - 4:54:13 - Her 5th 70.3 of the season. Her best this year: 4:38:51 at Muncie.

8. ANDREA MYERS,  40, Plymouth - 4:54:14 - Masters Record at Superior Man.

9. CHRISTINE THOMPSON, 49, Sun Prairie, WI - 45-49W Course record

So you know, the men's race was very exciting also. We'll post coverage of that contest, and the Superior Man 41.5, tomorrow. RESULTS

Photo Top - Superior Man's women's podium (L-R) - Kortney Haag, Nicole Walker, Christina Roberts