Race Coverage
"My Best Duathlon Race Ever...."
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Friday, 09 May 2014 00:10
A Win!
By Devon Palmer
I won a duathlon on Saturday. It was fun. It was a nice course out of Square Lake park in Stillwater. The top 4 men from the prior weekend at Falls Duathlon were all back. This race was an out and back 5k, a two lap 20 mile bike, and the same run again. Given the length of the bike I figured it would be down to Joe Johnson and I. My Gear West Bike teammate Brian Sames (pronounced the same as the word same, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise) would get a good lead right away and Joe and I would need to ride him down before the half way point in order to get a big enough gap before the second run. Curt Wood, a very strong cyclist but not super fast runner, pointed out an obvious equation I still use for duathlons – if both runs are equal length and you’re trying to beat runners on the bike you need to take the lead before half way on the bike. Otherwise it will probably be too late to build a sufficient gap.....
Ben & Lauren Take the Hill...
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Wednesday, 07 May 2014 00:10
TAKE THE HILL TRIATHLON - Ben Trnka is a fine young man who parts his hair on the right. He got married to a lovely girl who looks kinda like awesome actress Amy Adams (photo L) last summer and he is still very happy.
Ben also won last Saturday's Take the Hill Triathlon in St. Peter, and assuming that the distances haven't been altered, he did so in record time. His groovy time was 1:00:13, which lowered Mike Torchia's five-year-old CR by 37 seconds. Additionally, he was 3:01 faster than runner-up Nick Weiler, who also made the podium here in 2013. Nick was so inspired by the Winter Olympics that he did the City of Lakes Loppet which gave him major beard-cicles (photo below).
Third place for the guys went to Nate Sanders (1:03:23), who is a doctor and, like Ben and Nick, a totally good guy. Nate went to Florida a few months ago, probably to scope out some future retirement locales....
Freaky Fast...
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Tuesday, 06 May 2014 02:10
CHAIN OF LAKES TRIATHLON - Three of Marcus Stromberg's eight career multisport victories have been turned in at the Chain of Lakes Triathlon, the most recent of which happened last Saturday. Interestingly, Marcus's closest competition at COLT '14 was a woman, but that woman happened to be the fastest amateur female triathlete in the US: defending National Champion Heather Lendway.
Lendway was so freakin' fast last Saturday! How fast? Well, Marcus only beat her by 1:22. And her 57:13--the 11th victory of her young career--lowered Michelle Andres' 2011 course record by 4:26.
Heather narrowly missed winning the USAT AOY award in 2013. We are confident that if she keeps herself injury-free this season, she will vy for that prestigious award again. If she wins it, she'll become the second Minnesota woman to do so. Cathy Yndestad was the Athlete of the Year back in 2009....
Celebrity Lookalikes Win Cinco Dus...
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Sunday, 04 May 2014 06:10
CINCO DU MAYO - Did you see "The Fugitive"? The movie with Harrison Ford, not the bygone TV show starring Whatshisname.
Next, have you seen Devon Palmer lately? He's furrier than usual.
If you've seen The Fugitive and Devon you'll have to agree that, if you squint, he (Devon) looks a lot like a much younger version of Harrison Ford's Richard Kimble character.
What does any of this have to do with last Saturday's Cinco Du Mayo Duathlon? Here's what: A guy who looked like Richard Kimble won the race.
According to our research, Palmer's win at Cinco was the 14th of his multisport career. His time was brisk (1:23:53), second only to Sam....
Stuff About Saturday's Races...
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Saturday, 03 May 2014 06:10
ST. GEORGE 70.3 - US PRO 70.3 CHAMPIONSHIP - Rochester's 2nd-year pro Ruth Brennan Morrey placed 9th against a world class field yesterday in St.George, Utah. She covered the brutal course in 4:28:00. We hope to post Ruth's race report later this week. RESULTS
CHAIN OF LAKES TRIATHLON - Buffalo's Marcus Stromberg captured the men's overall title for the third consecutive year and Heather Lendway torched the women's race record in Alexandria yesterday. We'll post more words on Tuesday. RESULTS
CINCO DU MAYO DUATHLON - Devon Palmer and Joe Johnson placed 1-2 in yesterday's long course du, flip-flopping their positions of the previous week at Falls Du. The other overall winners--Shelley Ostrander (1st Long Course), Matt Orzechowski (1st Short Course) and Krista Johnson (1st Short Course)--each celebrated their first career victory. Approximately 200 athletes ....
Weekend Results & Stuff
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Monday, 28 April 2014 06:10
Photo - Bridget McCoy looks great in a big hat.
6th Annual FALLS DUATHLON - Diane Hankee and Julie Hull threw down on the competition in Cannon Falls last Saturday. They finished one-two overall and set records in the process. For Hankee, it was her 20th multi win since relocating to Minnesota from Saskatewan a decade ago. Her time was 1:11:41, which lowered Jenn Scudiero's year-old race record by fifty-one seconds.
Hull, 42, turned in a 1:14:37 which bested her PR here by 1:01 and took down Taryn Dahl's MCR by 6:21. FYI, Julie shared the 40-44 winner's circle with her husband, Erik, who is a totally cool guy.
This year's men's field was strong and was won in a quasi-upset by Joe Johnson, who outraced pro CR holder Devon Palmer (2nd), and amateur course record holder, Brian Sames (3rd). Approximately 200 athletes participated. RESULTS
31st Annual ST. ANTHONY'S TRIATHLON (St. Petersburg, FL) - David Thompson was competing here for the 12th time, while fellow St. Paulian, Bridget McCoy, was making her ...
