Race Coverage

You Could Almost Hear the Clicking....

Sunday, 28 July 2019 23:20

CHISAGO LAKES TRIATHLON - Climate Change is real! And some days the change is realer than others. 

Last Sunday's Chisago Lakes Half IM and Sprint was greeted with perfect racing conditions, the kind that whisper in an athlete's ear. The kind that say "things will click today, and your game will be taken to the next level." 

And you could almost hear the clicking. Many athletes rocked harder than ever before, and it was wonderful to witness this happen....

Happily, when the climate changed from idyllic to frightening, which was shortly after 11 AM, most of the Sprint racers had finished, and a large percentage of those 70.3ers whose races were "clicking," only had to endure the wind, rain and lightning for a short time.

The Top 4 men in the half, for instance. raced the 70.3-mile distance faster than they ever had before. Old PRs wer replaced with shiny new ones. These guys anticipated fatigue, and loss of pace, but those things did not happen as early, or as demonstrably, as they might have feared.

So, how shiny were those PRs?

Gold and bronze medalists' JOSH MORK and ANDY ZABEL all but assured their Most Improved nominations, with Mork's winning 4:09:57 torching his previous best by almost eleven minutes, and Zabel's 4:13:40 gouging just under ten minutes from his heretofore fastest 70.3.

Josh admitted after the race that a sub-4:12-15 was his goal. He didn't expect to feel stong throughout the entire run, but his body knew things that he didn't.

Bracketing Zabel was Iowan BEN LINDELL, who didn't srart in the Elite Wave, thus his 4:11:30 significantly adjusted the finish order. Ben, the runner-up at Square Lake last year, came into Sunday's event with a 4:14:47 personal best, and was visibly elated when he learned that his effort landed him in 2nd place overall.

Also launching in a later wave was former Collegiate star / reigning Trinona Olympic  champ JEFF METTLER of Ames, Iowa, who popped a 4:16:34, which may have been his 70.3 debut. We scoured the web looking for long course results for Jeff, but found none. 

A 4:16 rookie effort. How serious is that!

On the women's side, six of the Top 10 women, starting with winner KORTNEY HAAG who crushed a 4:32:52, the fourth fastest women's time (pros included) in the 14-year history of the race, set personal bests.

A pair of immensely talented rookies were especially impressive. PAIGE SCHULZ threw down a 4:42:17, good for 3rd place, and CARYN HERRICK took 5th in 4:51:01. Page's prior best was 4:52:03; Herrick's was 4:57:52.

Those ladies are going to rock the regional, maybe even national, scene(s) for years to come.

Here are the other PR setters in the women's Top 10:

6. KAYLA KJELLMAN (Thuder Bay, ONT) - 4:51:47 (Prior Best: 4:56:44)

9. JORID DAGFINRUD (East Grand Forks, MN) - 4:57:03 (Prior Best: 5:03:23)

10. KELLY MORETTER-BUE, 41 - 4:58:12 (Prior Best - 5:02:10)

Finishing 2nd and 4th in outstanding, though not PR efforts, were BECKY YOUNGBERG, whose time was 4:37:38, and KELLY TROM, who crossed in 4:45:40.

Lots of AG personal records were doubtlessly set, and the following race records were set:

40-44W - KORTNEY HAAG - 4:32:52 (Prior Record - 4:37:04 - 2018)

50-54M - DAVID HOLDEN - 4:27:57 (Prior Record - 4:31:06 - 2014)

60-64W - JUDY MURRAY - 5:36:10 (Prior Record - 5:43:48 - 2015)

65-69W - SUSAN MARQUET, wi - 6:21:20 (Prior Record - 6:31:43 - 2017)

The Chisago Sprint, which was also awesome, will be covered on Wednesday.  RESULTS