Race Coverage

Sara's Casual Approach...

Friday, 01 September 2017 09:10

 UPDATE: Great day for racing in Hopkins this morning. Coverage of the 4th annual Hopkins Royal Triathlon will post on Monday. RESULTS

LAKES COUNTRY TRIATHLON - SARA CARLSON is a lovely person all the time, but some of the time she is also a silly goose.

Via Facebook, Sara has let us know stuff about her competitive plans, noting that her main focus right now is running, i.e. qualifying for Boston, and that her tri racing is basically undesigned. She said, in effect, that if the spirit moves her, she'll make a last minute decision to pop into a multisport race. 

What a silly goose, right?

Carlson's casual approach this season has yielded incredible results. She not only posted her first career tri win--Graniteman Clearwater Sprint--but went on to collect two more victories--Young Life Olympic and Lakes Country. Amid these great performances was a satisfying 4:55 / 6th place finish at wetsuitless Chisago Half IM.

Maybe there's something to this casual approach? Maybe Sara's not such a silly goose, after all?

Sara's most recent triumph was last weekend at Lakes Country in Baxter, where she outraced 2013 LCT champ / perennial podiumer here, SARA SAMPSELL-JONES, who placed 2nd, and the current frontrunner for Female Junior of the Year, TAYLOR LUNDQUIST, 17, who has won two races outright this season....

Making Carlson's effort even more impressive is the fact that only two men had faster times than her, winner ROB MADGWICK, 52, who despite mid-season injuries, is having a tremendous year, and GERRIT GARBERICH, who was returning to triathlon after a four-year hiatus. We checked out Gerrit's FB page and learned that he's into Taylor Swift, Star Wars movies, and has read and enjoyed the brilliant novel, "The Book Thief," by aussie author Markus Zusak.

It should be noted that WADE CRUSER's attempt to defend his Lakes Country title went awry when he turned when he shouldn't have at about the 2.5K mark of the run. He finished way ahead of everyone else, but had shorted the course.

Wade has had one of "those" years, starting with his flat while leading at Oakdale, then his DNF at Timberman after leading, and his zig  when he should have zagged at Baxter. Bummer, especially when it likely erased three wins from his 2017 resume.

This year's triathlon, which celebrated its 18th anniversary, had 120ish finishers.  RESULTS