Race Coverage

Agreeing With Spencer...

Saturday, 10 May 2025 00:10

By Mitchell Clayton

Tinman Intermediate Race Report - Last week, Spencer Syvertson wrote a post for MN Tri News about how he loves small Minnesota triathlons, and how the U of M Morris’ Tinman triathlon is a great rust-buster event to kickstart your racing season. I couldn’t agree more. The Tinman tri has sprint (450 yds – 12 mile – 5 k) and olympic (1100 yds – 19 mile – 10 k) distance events that both feature a pool swim followed by an outdoor bike and run. It’s a well-run, small town event. I’ve done the sprint two times in the past, and this year I wanted to see how I could do at the longer distance.

The swim was pretty straightforward. I glanced at the race clock right before flipping for the first 50 and saw :28… whoops. After taking it out way too fast, I settled in and went through the motions. Hit the wall in 13:47, jumped out of the pool, and made my way to T1 just outside the pool doors. 

The bike course is an “L”-shaped out and back for both distances. The olympic just goes a bit further. In years past the weather has been cold, windy, rainy, and any imaginable combination of those three. This year, the wind was a little stronger than advertised, but significantly less than in the past, and temps were perfect in the mid-50s. The course is more undulating than you’d expect for western MN, making it tough to find your rhythm, but I just focused on cresting the small hills with as much momentum as I could while staying on top of nutrition.

The run is the only part of the day that had some drama. I took it out very conservatively, telling myself to slow down and settle in until I hit 5 k. Around the 5 k mark, my hips started hurting pretty intensely (something I’ve never experienced while running), and I was starting to feel fatigue setting in. So, between miles 4 and 5, I stopped… twice. I took 10 deep breaths each time before hobbling along. I could see the U of M campus for the last mile and just jogged it in the best I could manage. 

Overall, it was a solid start to the season, but I’ll probably stick to races with 5 k or less on the run for now on :) The race had a good turnout with 85 participants, and it’d be great to see that grow next year – the Tinman tri is definitely worth the drive!  RESULTS

Photo - Women's winner Amy Preusser with husband Ryan, who placed 3rd in the men's intermediate distance race.