Race Coverage

Lucky #7!

Saturday, 06 June 2026 00:10

By Doobie Kurus

The 7th annual SWIM-Off to Summer open water challenge was a huge success. Huge in that we filled again to capacity...and then some, at 230+ people. Huge in that we went international, including Mario, from Rio de Janeiro. Huge in the size of the smiles on people's face on Sunday! I had a feeling it was going to be a good day...and not just because I was able to brush my teeth and use the bathroom mid-event. The warm weather all week leading up to race day raised the water temps from the mid 60s to the low 70s, which was about the same as the air temps. The overcast skies and minimal water ripples made for good buoy sighting.

In the (.3 mile) Sprint distance, for the women, it was (62-year-old) Linda Green (9:58), Bryce White (10:18), and Teri Johnson (12:46) respectively. For the men, it was Gregory Breheim (9:07), Scott Siemens (14:27), and Mathew Enenbach (14:40) in that order....

In the (.9 mile) Olympic distance, 1-5 for the men were as follows. Pieter DeHart (20:27), Brett Lovaas (22:35), Randal Ness (25:15), Daniel O'Kane (27:07), and Tim Norberg (28:54). For the women, 1-5 went (13-year-old) Elliot Lee (23:29), Jennifer DeHart (24:31), Kelly Van Dyke (25:30), Beth Nymeyer (25:33), and Krista Jordan (25:50).

In the main event, the 1.2 mile distance, there were some interesting things to note:
• #s 1 & 2 were both in their 20s, #s 3 & 4 were both 40, and #s 5 & 6 were both 45+.
• #s 1, 3, & 5 were men and #s 2, 4, & 6 were women.
• #s 1 and 2 were separated by 36 seconds, #s 3 & 4 by just 11 seconds, and #s 5 & 6 by just 2 seconds! Wow!

1. Patrick Daley          28  Faribault   28:21

2. Grace Busch          23  Mankato   28:57

3. Andrew Wilson       40  Mpls         29:59

4. Christina Roberts   40  Mpls         30:10

5. Kevin Pollman.       45  Mpls         30:39

6. Carrie Stolar           59  Chan.       30:41

Thank you to all of the events that donated entries for our free door prize raffle, including Brewhouse Tri, Great Lake Superior Swim, Trinona, Chisago, Tri, Performance Ready Kids Tri, MN Masters Swimming, James J Hill Day swim, Timberman, Granite Man Big Lake, Gull Lake Open Water Challenge, Monster Lake Swim, and of course, the Hopkins Royal Tri and the SWIM-Off to Summer. We also gave away gift cards for Elsmore Swim Shop and Gear West Tri Shop.
 
Special thanks to race directors Matt Evans (Brewhouse and Great Lake Superior Swim), Mandy and Bill Hansen (Trinona and Chisago), Krisie Melsen (Performance Ready Kids Tri), and Pam Ogden (Monster Lake Swim) for being on site to volunteer, participate, and/or promote your events!
 
Ps Jerry MacNeil had better watch out! Susan Hilal was our race day announcer and took it to a whole other level with interactive kid-friendly "dad jokes" throughout the morning, like, "How can you tell the difference between a swimmer and a triathlete? A: Triathletes stand on shore visualizing the swim. Swimmers get in the water and actually warm up before a race!" Lol!
 
Note: Pickle Timing's timing chip board has 240 timing chips per board, so hence the limit. Who knows? If interest continues to grow, maybe we'll look at seeing if Brad Pickle will let us use a second timing chip board?
 
Respectively submitted by
Doobie Kurus
Race Director for the SWIM-Off to Summer and the Hopkins Royal Triathlon