Race Coverage
Magic Kona Coffee Beans...
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Friday, 02 August 2024 00:10
By Kenneth Downer
Instead of a typical blow-by-blow race report, this one simply shares a few vignettes from my experience at Ironman Lake Placid 2024 to convey a sense of the race and the atmosphere of an Ironman event. I hope you enjoy it.
Before the Gun.
• 3:15 AM. Coffee. The beans I grind are part of a quarterly delivery I get from Kona, Hawaii. My daughter and I toured the Heavenly Hawaiian Farms coffee plantation after I raced on the Big Island in 2019. I signed up for regular shipments to maybe keep that Kona spirit alive. I hope that perhaps those beans might somehow add a little something special to my race today.
• Standing with our toes in the moist sand on the starting beach of Mirror Lake, we listen as a local singer belts out the National Anthem with commendable skill. Her final words are drowned out as an Apache helicopter gunship roars out of the leaden sky and over our heads.....
Caryn & Jack, Cheryl and Nick...
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Wednesday, 31 July 2024 00:10
CHISAGO LAKES OLYMPIC COVERAGE - There were plenty of awesome performances in Sunday's Chisago Lakes Olympic Triathlon. The race is young, only three years old, and many of the AG records are a bit soft, so it wasn't earth-shattering that eleven of the sixteen non-open class (00-19, 40 & over) age groups saw record times despite the heat and wind. Some of those performances were truly special, like JULIA WESIBECKER's 55-59 effort that landed her in 4th place overall in the women's race, or THOMAS WOODS' 50-54M performance, which landed him in 8th place overall. Woods is a highly decorated elite master from Nebraska....
Kim & Jasper...
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Monday, 29 July 2024 00:10
CHISAGO LAKES 70.3 COVERAGE - In the days leading up to this year's races, ELENA JASPER decided not to race in the Olympic event, and instead tackle the 70.3...
Locals Impress at Alexandria...
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Sunday, 28 July 2024 00:10
ALEXANDRIA TRIATHLON COVERAGE - Unless the internet was mistaken, conditions facing the triathlons were not ideal. It was a pretty. day to look at, but temps had already reached eighty and wind gusted at twenty-plus miles-per-hour. Conservative pacing with lots of internal and external hydration seemed to be called for. Forget about PRs and course records.
Some athletes ignored that memo. SPENCER SYVERTSON turned in what was probably his finest performance ever in June at the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon, where he placed a close 2nd behind the seemingly unbeatable Preston Youngdahl. He demonstrated a new level of speed and tenacity on that day. His performance at Alex last Saturday was arguably superior to his LMT effort. He not only won the race handily, he nuked the men's race record. (Note: New 5K run course.) Outstanding splits in each discipline kept him in front of 2023 champ, and eventual runner-up COREY NYGAARD, who like Spencer, should recive Most Improved Triathlete nominations at season's end. It would be cool to have two Alexandria residents on the list of MI nominees....
Josh's Bike & Tiff's Fast Feet...
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Sunday, 21 July 2024 00:10
11th Buzz Ryan Triathlon Coverage - One notable record was rewritten this morning at the 11th Buzz Ryan Sprint. JOSH BLANKENHEIM, 44, lived up to his favored status with a win and a Masters Record, 48:44, which shaved 1:50 off Todd Struckman's MR, set in 2018. Enhancing Josh's mark is the fact that according to published splits, the swim course was a bit long.
CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN, 59, who set an AG record at Timberman Sprint last weekend, turned in a performance that likely would have bettered the AGR she set here in 2022 if today's swim had been the advertised length. Nevertheless, Christel finished a satisfying 3rd overall in the women's race.
Blankenheim's margin of victory over runner-up JASON CRISP, who placed 2nd at Timberman Olympic eight days ago, was just over a minute. Past Buzz champ MITCHELL CLAYTON took 3rd, 24-seconds after Crisp....
Living Up to Expectations...
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Tuesday, 16 July 2024 00:10
TIMBERMAN SPRINT COVERAGE - In ech of the four previous editions of this race, the battle for the Top Step was between TARA MAKINEN and BETTINA KEPPERS. Makinen, who has six career wins here, won in 2021, and Keppers won in 2022 and 2023, though her margin of victory last year was only 14 seconds.
Tara opted not to race in this year's Sprint, choosing instead to race alongside her son in the Super Sprint, so it appeared that Bettina would not need her best effort in order to pick up her sixth career Timberman Sprint victory last Saturday.
But that's not how she races. Though basically unchallenged, she rocked her second fastest time ever here, bettered only by the course record she set in perfect conditions back in 2019. Outspliting the women's field in two of the three disciplines--she was especially dominant on the bike--she finished in 1:03:33.
Bettina, 41, set an AG record shaving almost aminute off Makinen's 2019 40-44W mark. CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN, 58, also lowered an age group record, one she set in 2022, doing so definitively. The old AGR was 1:06:44. On Saturday, she posted a 1:05:29, which landed her in 2nd place overall in the women's race. Like Keppers, Christel excelled on the bike....
