Race Coverage

Superior Performances....

Tuesday, 28 August 2018 23:10

SUPERIOR MAN - This year's races promised to be super exciting, and we were anxious to watch them unfold. Like everyone else on site, though, our hand-held device suggested that the weather conditions might yuckify during the event, so metaphoric fingers were crossed. Real participant fingers were needed for stroking, chinstrap snapping, steering, shifting gears etc., and spectator fingers were needed for clapping, waving and holding cardboard coffee containers.

Bad weather never materialized, thus racing conditions were surprisingly accommodating. Times would be fast, very fast, actually, despite the fact that the swim course for both the half IM and the 41.5 were long.

Five of Minnesota fastest 70.3ers were entered, as was a young Canadian woman intent on having a breakout performance. More on this later.

In MTN's 41.5 preview we suggested that late registrants would determine the outcome at the front of the race for the men. We were wrong about that, but late arrivals definitely impacted the women's competition in a hugely exciting way. Two-time champ CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN was our pick to three-peat, and she cerainly would have done that had not DANI VSETECKA, ELAINE NELSON and BETTINA KEPPERS, true national-level talents, decided to pop in at, as they say, the last minute.

Needless to say, we almost wet ourselves when we saw these ladies before the race.

Superior Man's great new run courses were multiple loop deals, the 41.5 passing within sight of the finish line crowd early on, and the 70.3 passing this point twice. This made the event's "crunch time" very spectator friendly. Kudos to CLINT and his crew for the design and execution....

When Vsetecka passed by the finish line the first time, more than one person said "She's going to win this," and they were not talking about the women's competition. They could tell that Dani, who races with a special kind of aggressiveness--she literally "throws" herself into her performance--was going to overtake the few men that were ahead of her when they exited T2. They also knew that, despite extra minutes of swimming, a record would fall, and fall hard.

Elaine Nelson was next woman to pass the finish line and head out onto the final lap. She looked good, but it was clear that Dani V couldn't be caught.

Then came Keppers, who had an obvious lock on a fast time and the final podium spot.

Vsetecka won the Performance of the Year award in 2017, and when she crossed Superior Man's finish line in 2:30:59, almost ten minutes under the prior course record and almost five minutes ahead of the man--Minocqua Triathlon winner ROBERT STEIBER, of Medford, Wisconsin--who would take his gender's Top Spot, it was clear that her effort would be a part of this year's POY discussion.

Nelson was next across, in 3rd place overall, her 3:36:43 also well ahead of the prior women's best.

Kepper's rounded out the podium, as expected, with a 6th place overall finish and a time--2:44:28--that had the swim been the advertised half mile, would also have dipped under the old mark.

This year's 41.5 had 88 finishers, ten more than in 2017.

The longer swim dashed the hopes of those who were hoping to rewrite race records in the half. That is, everyone but the remarkable 61-year-old RON GIURUT, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The reigning 60-64 National Sprint champion attacked SM's course with a Vsetecka-ian vengeance, ultimately rocking a world class AG time of 4:40:28, more than an hour better than his division's old course record. It was also good enough to land him in 10th place overall.

Giurut's effort was the long course performance of the day.

And while Ron's effort was the only one that produced a record, several 70.3ers knocked down personal bests in spite of the extra time in the bay. Two such athletes were TED TREISE, who kissed Dani Vsetecka ON THE LIPS!, after he finished demonstrating that the MTN Guys were the only ones who didn't know that he and Ms. V were dating, and Thunder Bay's delightful KAYLA KJELLMAN.

Ted came into the race with a 4:15 PR at this distance, and when he started his second run lap, he had moved into 2nd place, having overtaken Superior Man's masters record holder DAN ARLANDSON, and two-time Chisago podiumer (4:13 PR) JOE ADRIAENS, who was hoping for the silver behind leader SEAN COOLEY, who was going for his 5th SM title.

Ted was running like a banshee, his final split--1:18:22--would make many pros drool, when he entered that second loop. The new question was: Could he catch Cooley, who threw down an unapproachable 2:05 bike split?

No, but he came dang close.

When Dr. Cooley, Minnesota's 2017 Triathlete of the Year, crossed in a circumstantially awesome 4:12:15, Treise was less than a minute out.

Ted then crossed in a PR-4:13:04, which earned him that juicy lip kiss from Dani V, and the applause of the finish line crowd.

Adriaens held on for 3rd (4:16:54), with the next two spots taken by Arlandson (4:25:01) and STEVE MORRIS, (4:26:52), formerly of Coon Rapids, but now coming out of Boulder, Colorado.

The other PR among the frontrunners was turned in by Kjellman, whose effort featured a strong bike, and a solid run. Her prior PR was 5:02, but she knew she could go MUCH faster. 

Her final time at Superior Man was 4:56:45, a sub 4:50 equivalent, and landed her in 2^nd place in the women's competition. She was ecstatic, as was her mom, who is a HOOT!

Third place for the women was earned by veteran Ironwoman AMY HITE, who was top master in 5:10:14.

So who won the women's race? The woman who was was supposed to win, that's who. HANNA GRINAKER. HG is arguably the most complete female amateur triathlete in the country right now, a true pro prospect, if she chooses that route.

But she probably won't, because “fun” and “love of the sport” are more important than the stresses inherent in making her lifestye sport a business.

We predicted that her goal was to dog the credentialed men, which is exactly what she did. All seven of the guys that finished ahead of her were known commodities, i.e. regional elites.

Hanna's splits were impressive, especially her 2:18 bike, which she followed with a 1:32 run. When she finished in 4:32:05, the event's second fastest women's time ever, she knew she had turned in a performance that rivaled NICOLE WALKER's state record 4:25:05, set here in 2016.

A POY nomination at season's end? Oh yeah.

Superior Man is a three-time Race of the Year winner. There's every reason to believe it will be a finalist for that award again this year. RESULTS