Race Coverage
Clayton & Warning Break Out at Clear Lake...
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Saturday, 25 May 2024 00:10
Photo - Mitchell Clayton and Noah Billings
Tri Clear Lake Sprint Coverage - A few days ago we predicted that Rochester's NOAH BILLINGS would three-peat as men's champion in today's Tri Clear Lake Sprint. The two-time Minnesota Junior of the Year raced hard, beating his 2023 time, but ultimately settled for 2nd behind another former Minnesota JOY, MITCHELL CLAYTON, also of the Med City, whose 58:23 might be an amateur record here. Our research shows that only pro triathlete Wes Anderson (IA) had posted a faster time (57:47 in 2018) at Clear Lake.
The performance was arguably the finest of Clayton's multisport career and we are currently trying to talk him into filing a race report.
We also predicted that Minnesotans GRACE BUSCH (Mankato) and CHANTAL NACK (Minneapolis) would finish 1-2 in the women's Sprint competition. We're happy to report that we were almost correct. Busch, our state's Junior of the Year in 2022, rocked an amateur record 1:03:25, which was good for 4th pllace
overall in the 261-entrant race. Unsurprisingly, she outspit everyone in the swim and finished with s strong run, beating runner-up Autumn Gilhooly of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who placed 3rd here in 2023, by 3:30. Nack finished next, her 3rd-placing 1:09:37 a 51-second improvement over last year's winning time.
Also cracking the Top 5 was JILL ELLENBECKER, 52, of Coon Rapids. RESULTS
Tri Clear Lake Olympic Notes - Former collegiate runner (Winona State) Micah Warning of Rochester has been looking for the breakout performance that will clearly demonstrate that he is one of our region's elite. He did that this morning by claiming the unoffical amateur title at Tri Clear Lake Olympic behind Iowa pros Tyson Weiland and TJ Tollakson. His time was 2:02:45, a personal best and one of the faster amateur clockings in the history of this popular event.
