Race Coverage

Opening Day!

Saturday, 01 August 2020 23:10

GRANITEMAN BIG LAKE SPRINT - JOSH MORK is a "mustache guy," though he hasn't truly settled on his style preference yet. He sported the Yosemite Sam look for a while, but had recently traded that in for the Snidely Whiplash look, though only after giving serious consideration to Handlebar and Walrus options.

Snidely Mork is also a humble guy. He demonstrated that humility yesterday at Big Lake Sprint after he won the race, the seventh of his meteoric tri career. He admitted that his victory may have been helped by the misfortune of his good friend DAVID KOPPEL, who was hit, but not injured, unlike his bike, by a motorcyle. Josh said that he believed that David would have picked up his first career tri victory had the accident not occurred.

Fourth placer JOE ADRIAENS was also in position to, perhaps, claim his first tri win, or at least turn the battle for the Top Step into a down-to-the-wire, three man affair with Mork and Koppel, but a wrong turn on the bike course added extra time-sucking distance to his effort. Nevertheless, Joe finished less than a minute behind the official winner. It was a brilliant performance, one that clearly demonstrated that Joe, like David, is ready to win races and rank in the upper echelons of his peers....

Brilliant efforts were turned the official silver and bronze medalists for the men. The runner-up award was earned by North Dakota's ANDREW MANNING, who capped his race with the run performance of his competitive life. His 17:24, the fastest of the day, was, according to our reasearch, a significant lowering of his 5K PR. We love to witness breakout performances. Great job, Andrew!

And speaking of great jobs, 2019 male Junior of the Year KYLE SWENSON, 18, not only placed 3rd overall against the deepest men's field in the 10-year history of Big Lake Sprint, he torched the eight-year-old junior record by an elephantine 3:04. His 1:03:50 was only 13-seconds off Manning's clocking and 43 ticks slower than the winner. 

A junior boy, unlike junior girls (BETH ZIRBES in 2005), has never earned a berth on Team Minnesota. That may change this year, or next, because Kyle has proven that he doesn't just dominated his fellow teens, he has become truly competitive with the established adult elites in our state.

This said, it should be noted that Swenson wasn't the only junior boy who rocked socks at beautiful Big Lake. Two other young men--CARSON DEICHMAN, 17, and NOAH BILLINGS, 14, who appears to bound for tri stardom--cracked the overall Top 16. Deichman placed 14th. Billings finished in 16th.

The junior girls also rocked at Big Lake, with six cracking the Top 11. We'll highlight them in our next post which will cover the exciting women's race.

Finally, Swenson's AG record was one of three that were rewrittenon on the men's side. ANDY ZABEL lowered the 2013 40-44 AGR record by 59-seconds, and THAD INGERSOLL, a 50-year-old that can pass for 35, took his division's six-year-old record down by 1:02.

Saturday, August 1 was a terrific day. The weather was perfect, as was the atmosphere of celebration that permeated the scene. Graniteman Big Lake was a wonderful event.

One could not ask for a better opening day.  RESULTS