Race Coverage
Saturday Capsules...& Sunday Highlights...
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Sunday, 29 June 2014 00:10
(Photo from 2012 NMT - Future Anthem singer /veteran triathlete Denny Ellingson, Mike Borneke between smiles, the ever-exuberant Carol Marston and another guy.)
16th NORTH MANKATO DUATHLON - Dave "Hercules" Lyon, who's wife Veronica is a HOOT!, and Kristin Gustafson, who won Superior Man last year and has a great tan, led the way for their respective genders in breezy, steamy North Mankato yesterday morning. Lyon prevailed despite suffering from what he called a "groing thing." Herc also won here in 2013.
Todd Landgraff, who won this race in 2011 and 2009 and missed all of last season in order to change poopy diapers, placed 2nd, 41 ticks after Lyon. 2013 women's champ Jenna Rinehart, who is a pro mountain biker, finished 18 seconds after Gustafson. Thirdsies went to Mike Cahill and Veronica Bond.
The event, which was totally good, drew approximately 200 race day entrants. Perennial division...
Rising to the Challenge...
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Thursday, 26 June 2014 00:10
By Lisa Leonard (Team Nevada)
Race Report - Best of the US, Olympic Triathlon, St Paul, MN
As an invitational only race I knew this would be certainly the toughest race of the year so far. In Triathlon you often race against your 'age group' however this was a flat out race against the best amateur triathletes in the USA. Current and former national champions, triathlete of the year, long course national champion...this race had them. It was a small but incredibly stacked field. My biggest fear...making a complete embarrassment of myself, letting down everyone who has supported me in getting here. As a relatively last minute race, my coach Jeremy Wallace wasnt sure it was the best decision to go - I had just come away from racing 4 out of 5 weekends in May including a half ironman (2nd), state TT championship (1st), Devlees Road Race (2nd) and Sand hollow sprint triathlon (1st). Our focus was supposed to be shifting towards prep for Ironman 70.3 Worlds in September. Nevertheless, with support from the awesome people at Bike Shop Henderson I found myself able to travel to Minnesota for this prestigious event. Eyeing up the competition at the 'Meet n Greet' on Saturday was pretty nerve racking but by this point I had shifted my focus to concentrating on my performance - the result had to be secondary....
Mom Said, "You Don't Look Too Good"...
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Wednesday, 25 June 2014 00:10
By Kortney Haag
REV 3 RACE REPORT - I have always wanted to try out a Rev 3 race but the last couple of years this race didn’t fit into my schedule because it was too close to Ironman Wisconsin with it being in August. This year, however, they moved the race to June so Derek and I decided to give it a go. Derek is racing Ironman Wisconsin this year and so we knew it would be great training for him with the hills…however, he had his appendix removed 4 weeks ago so this was definitely a training race for him. I wanted to do well at this race and use it as a test to see where the fitness is with Kona being 3.5 months out. I knew it was going to be hilly…but WOW I didn’t realize how hilly! Ironman Wisconsin has nothing on this course…I would have cried if I had to do that course one more time!
I didn’t know what to expect that morning as I am not superstitious but during my pre race warm up my bike helmet fell apart and I had to rubber band it together and then I ran over and killed a squirrel when I was warming up on the bike! ---
Weekend Observations...
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Monday, 23 June 2014 07:10
(Photo - Oklahoma's Travis Newton and BOUS Champ Matt Payne wearing shirts that Kevin O'Connor had made for Matt's fans. We cherish ours and will wear it often.)
The MTN Guys look back on Minnesota's eight-race weekend:
LAKE MINNETONKA OBSERVATIONS - Awesome, as always. Ross and Tina pour their hearts into this event and it totally shows. And the weather was totally cooperative.
We are still having trouble wrapping our brains around Heather Lendway's performance. A freakin' 1:04:53! We recall the all-time great amateur female triathletes, women like Donna Kay Ness (CT), Maryellen Powers (NH), Joanna Zeiger (MD), Margie Shapiro (VA) et al. In our opinion, HL is a cut above them all, and we've been observing the sport since 1978.
- The Roberts girls, mom Deb, daughter Christina, impressed our pants off on Saturday. Deb flattened her own 60-64W CR. Add this to the divisional CRs she set at Liberty Olympic and Buffalo and you have the makings of a Grand Master of the Year nomination at season's end. Her daughter Christina placed 2nd overall in 1:11:14, only...
The Most Virile Guy In Columbia Heights...
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Monday, 23 June 2014 00:10
Race Fast, Blog Slow
By Matthew Payne (matthew-payne.blogspot.com)
#$%!$$#%^@! I spent like 3 hours writing this post a couple nights ago, published it, watched it actually get a few page views, and then it just... disappeared. Poof. Gone. Somehow it got rolled back to a not even close to complete draft version from several days prior.
FU Google... providing me this service for free and still somehow giving me less than my money's worth. The nerve of some people. So here goes take 2. Please don't eat this one internet gremlins.
In much happier news, Tiffany and I are proud to announce that we have another kid on the way! Due in December. We haven't decided on a name yet. Mikey (photo) suggested "Fishy" and "Dinosaur". We've taken those under consideration.
HUMONGOUS SUNDAY....ONGOING UPDATES!
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Sunday, 22 June 2014 05:00
BEST OF THE US CHAMPIONSHIP - Columbia Heights' MATTHEW PAYNE became the first athlete in the nine-year history of the BOUS Series to win two National titles. He held off a hard charging DANIEL STUBLESKI of Washington, Michigan, to make it happen. Stubleski was the 2013 US AOY. Buffalo, Minnesota's MARCUS STROMBERG turned in what was arguably his finest effort to date, finishing 3rd. KEVIN O'CONNOR rocked a 4th place finish thanks in large part to his 35:12 final 10K. Only Stubleski had a faster run split (34:19).
For the women, Wausau, Wisconsin's DANI FISCHER won her 2nd national title of the 2014. (She also won Long Course Nationals). Her gender-best 38:07 run split allowed her to overtake pre-race co-favorite JENNIFER GARRISON of Naperville, IL. 2013 US AOY KIRSTEN SASS of McKenzie, Tennessee took the final podium spot....
