Race Coverage

Another Win For Sara & Blank...

Saturday, 03 September 2022 00:10

LAKES COUNTRY TRIATHLON - SARA CARLSON, 44, and JACQUELINE BACIGALUPI, also 44, love their hometown race. And it is obvious that their hometown race loves them back. Jacqui has three Lakes Country women's titles on her resume, and Sara has two, the most recent of which was at last Sunday's 22nd edition of the LCT (including it's predecessor "Whipple Wave")...

Sara didn't just win, she posted the second fastest women's time in course history. (The current distances have been in place since 2014.) Moreover, her 1:06:24, which was 32-seconds better than her winning time in '17, nuked the race's female Masters record by 2:27.

Carlson has two wins in two starts this season.

How'd she do it?

Sara and Jacqui matched strokes in the water and had identical transitions. After overtaking early leader / future tri star  MADELYN MILLER, 15 (photo L), Bacigalupi build a small, albeit unsustainable lead. To beat Carlson on the 3.2 mile run, she would have needed a two-minute lead heading into T2. Her 18-second margin wasn't going o cut it. Her bike split was stout enough to keep her in 2nd place ahead of Miller, who threw down a closing run split that basically matched Carlson's. Madelyn's 3rd place finish matched her Northwoods result. And her 1:13:21 was 1:28 faster than her 2021 LCT time, which marked her "adult" triathlon debut. She  placed 7th in that race.

Men's pre-race favorite / defending LCT champ JOSH BLANKENHEIM used his superior bike and run talents to, once again, post a convining win, his second victory of the season (three starts) and at least 14th of his multisport career. 

Finishing 2nd was DAVID LEWIS, who has podiumed in three of the four tris he's done this season. 

The final podium spot was earned by Madi Miller's dad CASEY, who also placed 3rd here in 2021. Absent during the pandemic years, it's great to have Casey back on the racing circuit.

One hundred and eighteen athletes finished this year's triathlon.  RESULTS