Race Previews

A Superior Experience...

Friday, 24 August 2012 02:10

(Photo - Dr. Ann Sudoh is one of the faves to win the women's title on Sunday.)

Superior Man I - This first-time event features a satisfying turn out (400ish participants) and a strong field. A handful of folks with impressive half IM creds will be racing, as well as, more interestingly, a large contingent of folks with sweet short course resumes. We're anxious to see how these athletes fare. We anticipate some breakout performances.

For giggles, here's the Whos and Whys of our predicted men's podium....

1st - Jon Balabuck (Thunder Bay, ONT) - A wonderful guy with a great family, Jon loves to rob Minnesota races of their hardware. The two-time Brewhouse champ has won the Liberty and Chisago halves, in addition to twice claiming the amateur title at Ontario's prestigious, long-running Muskoka 70.3. His PR at the distance is 4:05:48 (Chisago 2005 - Amateur Record).

2nd - Rod Raymond (Duluth) - Pedagogue, raconteur, entrepreneur, insanely handsome dude and total HOOT!, Rod is a long distance dyrisk, which is a Norwegian deal, meaning "animal." Like Jon, he possesses golden 70.3 credentials. He, too, has won at Chisago Lakes (4:10:43 in 2008). He is also a past winner at Square Lake. A great performance on Sunday could secure a Master of the Year nomination for The Rodman, who has a victory and two seconds in three starts thus far in 2012.

3rd - Brooks Grossinger (Mayer) - Brooksie has not made Team Minnesota since 2005. The reason for this is that he doesn't race as often as most of his fellow elites, not that he is undeserving from a talent standpoint. We expect Mr. G to make the Team this year, though, as he is racing better than ever. In four starts, he has three wins and a 4th. An infrequent long distance racer, his results are nonetheless impressive. The 4:03 he posted on a short route at Chisago in 2009 was the equivalent of a 4:11. A sub-4:20-25 effort on Sunday would doubtlessly earn a place on the podium.

Lots of fast hombres will fight over the other spots in the overall Top 10, guys like Andy Schiesl, Jake Cooley (ND), Brent Sinn (WI) and Doug Thiessen (ONT).

We're anxious to see some new names break into those top spots. It's gonna happen.

The girls are a little harder to pick. There are those who excelled--Connie Lutkevich (3rd- photo L) and Kerri Persons (4th)--at last weekend's Duluth Triathlon (Half IM). Can they repeat those efforts so soon? T'would be cool if they could.

There are two girls on the current start list that we believe should make the podium: