Race Coverage
Great Race, But Why the Scoring Changes?
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Wednesday, 21 February 2024 00:10
LAKE MINNETONKA COVERAGE - MTN archives historical data on most of Minnesota's multisport events. This allows us to monitor the evolution of performance standards in our state. We record 5-year Age Group data for all but the smallest races, except for what can be perceived as "open class," that is, the AGs between age 20 and 39. The successful athletes in that range typically earn most of the spots in the overall Top 10....
Yesterday's Lake Minnetonka Triathlon, with 598 entrants, is one of the three largest triathlons in our state these days, along with Chisago and Maple Grove. They have employed 5-year AGs for most of it's first 18 editions. To the surprise of most of the entrants, yesterday's race utilized these new categories: Men 1-24, M 25-29, M 30-34, M 35-39, M 40-44, M 45-54, M 55+; Women 1-29, W 30-39, W 40+.
Also, due to construction on the original bike course, a new 11.1-mile 2-loop route was used this year. Some athletes didn't get the memo and eschewed the second loop, and despite some outrageous bike splits, the original results were not immediately corrected. We looked again today, and some of those DQ-able results were removed, but not all.
So, here are the results that MTN is using for record-keeping purposes. They differ vastly from what is posted on Athlinks.com.
Overall - Men: 1. Preston Youngdahl - 57:02, 2. Kurt Youngdahl - 59:19, 3. Sameul Hauck - 59:30, 4. Heather Lendway - 1:00:36, 5. Mike Bibelheimer - 1:01:17, 6. Mark Van Mechelin, TX - 1:01:19, 7. Malachi Lehman - 1:02:38, 8. Elena Hengel - 1:02:56, 9. Daniel Hurka - 1:03:11, 10. Ryan Barrios - 1:03:26.
Women - 1. Heather Lendway - 1:00:36, 2. Elena Hengel - 1:02:56, 3. Christina Roberts - 1:05:39, 4. Bella Buenting - 1:06:45, 5. Andrea Myers - 1:07:54, 6. Vanessa Nagel - 1:08:08, 7. Christel Kippenhan - 1:10:22, 8. Whitney Moore - 1:10:26, 9. Colette Celichowski - 1:11:06, 10. Elizabeth Weider, 17 - 1:11:43.
AGE GROUPS -
- 16-19 - Lance Nemecek - 1:08:27 & Elizabeth Weider, 17 - 1:11:43
- 40-44 - Mike Bibelheimer - 1:01:17 & Shannon Carroll - 1:12:15
- 45-49 - Brett Lovaas - 1:03:38 & Andrea Myers - 1:07:54
- 50-54 - Wardell Johnson - 1:11:09 & Jaleh Nahvi - 1:22:31
- 55-59 - Chuck Hengel - 1:08:48 & Chistel Kippenhan - 1:10:22
- 60-64 - Keith Tufte - 1:08:44 & Jan Guenther - 1:12:20
- 65-69 - Steve Gunther - 1:23:30 & Helen Gunther - 1:22:33
- 70-74 - Luke Harned - 1:21:34
Please understand that the race itself was, as always, awesome and it is not our intent to besmirch its integrity. We do hope that 2024's race attendance is not hurt by this year's scoring change. And we hope that the 5-year (or even 10-year) AGs are restored in 2024.
