Race Coverage

Records Tumble at Buzz XII....

Monday, 21 July 2025 00:10

2025 BUZZ RYAN SPRINT COVERAGE - With his near-record effort at Buzz XII yesterday, SPENCER SYVERTSON is now undefeated in four starts thus far in 2025. Here's what he had to say about his performance, and the quality of the event:  ...

The 2025 edition of Buzz Ryan was an excellent day for racing. We had low winds and perfect temps. The swim went how it usually does. I tried my best to follow the feet of a high school swimmer who cooked the rest of the field. Onto the bike I got to work to overtake the lead quickly. I had my eye on the bike course Strava segment to give me a push. I absolutely loved this course. It felt like racing on a roller coaster with the twists and turns through the woods. I came off the bike with a new Strava KOM of 27 mph and a 1.5 minute lead over some great runners. Thank you to the kid who gave me an updated split with “You are 3 miles ahead of everyone”. Onto the run I knew I had a comfy lead but still wanted to attack the course record owned by my buddy AJ Manning. At the run turnaround I started to do the mental math on my chances at the record. I came to the conclusion I was 30-60 seconds slower. It turns out that doing math is hard while red-lining a triathlon and I hi-fived my way into the finishing chute to cross the line only 9 seconds behind the course record. Oh well! I’ll be back to Island Lake again in the future for another shot.

That highschool swimmer he chased in phase one was 2024 Minnesota Junior of the Year CORBIN DEICHMAN, who, like Syvertson, was chasing a record. He was out to better the Junior Course Record 48:05 his brother CARSON set in 2021. To accomplish this he needed to improve on the bike split he turned in on this route in '24, which he did in a big way. He was two mph faster yesterday and the result was a 47:17, a hefty 48-seconds better than his brother's clocking. The performance, which would have won all but four of the twelve editions of the race, landed Corbin in 3rd place overall. Finishing eighteen seconds ahead of him was reigning Master of the Year and Duluth's numero uno since the retirement of Minnesota legend BRIAN BICH, JOSH BLANKENHEIM, whose brisk 46:59 trashed his own Masters Record here by 1:45.

2021 Buzz winner TIMOTHY BONTRAGER finished 4th. Arguably, yesterday's men's field was the event's deepest ever.

The same could said for Sunday's women's field. Spencer attacked the formidable men's record and came very close. TIFFANY KARI CIZMAS attacked ELAINE NELSON's long-standing (since 2018) women's CR and came away with two new records (CR and MR). Nelson's 2018 time was 53:03; Kari Cizmas' time was 21-seconds faster.

As in her winning effort here in 2024, Tiff relied heavily on her footspeed. Her per-mile pace was 5:48, which was eight seconds per-mile faster than last year's split.

Unsurprisingly, BETTINA KEPPERS finished 2nd, matching her 2024 placement. Keppers came into the race with 56:14 personall best. She left the venue yesterday with a 54:17.

The Age Group Performance of the Day clearly belonged to 60-year-old CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN, who finished 3rd overall in the women's race. The three-time Master of the Year / two-time Grand Master of the Year nominee posted a 56:17, which was not only 1:17 quicker than her prior best here, but was the fastest time ever for a woman over age-50. The previous 50-and-over record (57:17) was set back in 2017.

Crongrats from MTN to the 120 athletes who participated at picturesque Island Lake on Sunday. RESULTS

Top Photo (L-R) - Finn Blankenheim, Josh Blankenheim, Spencer Syvertson, Corbin Deichman.

Page 2 photo (L-R) - Tiffany Kari Cizmas, Bettina Keppers, Benjamin Welch.