Race Coverage

Sweet Moments & Great Performances...

Friday, 21 June 2024 00:10

2024 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon - The 20th edition of this classic event had more than it share of great moments, perhaps the sweetest of which occurred during the pre-race meeting. The national anthem singer, Aubree, age 13, stood frozen in front of a a crowd of more than five hundred triathletes, plus their friends and families, and a host of volunteers. Poor girl. Then, at the gentle urging of event host MIke Rogers, some of the athletes began to sing. Soon the majority of the crowd was singing. Empowered, Aubree, with mic in hand, joined in. It was a beautiful moment and the post-song applause was thunderous. Some of us get misty at times like these...

The race was almost two hours old when another sweet moment occurred. GUY WIKMAN, 69, proud father of PETER, the elite amateur who earned the Most Improved Triathlete honor in 2023, crossed his first triathlon finish line. Guy was the oldest of approximately seventy-five newbies that participated last Saturday.

Then there's WHITNEY MOORE, whose improvement in '22 and '23 had been remarkable, only to stalled by injury / physical ailment. She wasn't ready to throw down her best race, but she was fit enough to enjoy the experience recreationally. She described her LMT effort as "A blast!" Whitney is a great role model, especialy for those who sometime take this sport too seriously.

And yes, there were plenty of awesome performances. We witnessed SPENCER SYVERTSON take his game to the next level by giving our state's numero uno guy, PRESTON YOUNGDAHL, a great race. Only 1:11 separated those guys.

Placing 3rd in an inspiring performance was 54-year-old THAD INGERSOLL. Thad doesn't race often, but tends to set AG records every time.

HEATHER LENDWAY was assumed to be the woman who would join Youngdahl in the Winners Circle for the third straight year, but an ankle injury forced her to sit this one out. That opened a door that ELENA (HENGEL) JASPER gladly walked through. Last year's runner-up turned in an impressive 1:05 on a Sprint course that should take the equivalent time of standard Sprint to complete (LMT has a slighty longer swim, standard has a lightly longer bike). Surprisingly, she did not dominate the women's race. BECKY YOUNGBERG, 49, who won seven of the eleven races she entered in 2019, and podiumed in the other four, had only raced in three multis between 2020 and the end of 2023. This year she's back with a vengeance, having already raced three time before LMT, winning twice then rocking a sub-5 hour (13th place overall woman) time at Ironman 70.3 Des Moines. If Youngberg was tired, it didn't show. Her final time was 1:06:02, just forty seconds behind Jasper.

Finishing third less than a minute behind Youngberg was six-time Minnesota Masterof the Year nominee ANDREA MYERS, 48.

Temps were in the mid 60s under overcast skies with occasional mist. It wasn't the prettiest day, but the racing conditions were ideal for the 463 finishers.

RESULTS