Race Previews

Specialer Than Ever...

Tuesday, 20 August 2013 05:10

MAPLE GROVE TRIATHON IV - The fourth edition of this event is gonna be special, even specialer than its first three runnings, which were also totally special.

How so, you ask?

Well, Saturday's MGT is now a Life Time event, which means that it will be larger than ever (1500+) and even better produced, if that's even possible. It is also the 3rd and final event in the Life Time Minnesota Tri Series, which started at Trinona in June, then went to Lake Nokomis in July (Minneapolis Triathlon).

FYI, the Life Time Tri Series has many serieses within the larger series. In addition to the Minnesota Series, there is the Chicagoland, Texas and Arizona serieseseses....

Competitively, this year's Olympic race will feature a special match-up between former US Athlete of the Year, Cathy Yndestad, who has won this race twice, and reigning USAT National champion, Heather Lendway. The winner of this battle should win the war. The only girls who can beat them are pros, none of whom are currently enrolled. And even if there were, they would be, for our purposes, scored separately. For MTN, when pros are racing, there will be two titles, one for pros, one for amateurs.

Who do you think will come out on top on Saturday? Cathy of Heather?

Some stuff to consider:

- Heather is a national champion and her PR at Olympic distance is 2:05:37, which is the fastest women's time ever at Nationals.

- Cathy has podiumed twice at Nationals, finishing 2nd to Brooke Davison in 2008, and 3rd in 2009 behind Kaitlin Donner and Lindsay Woodward. Brooke, Kaitlin and Woodward are now pros. (FYI, Davison was the most dominating amateur that the US has ever produced. Undefeated in 2008, her margins of victory are unprecedented.)

- Cathy and Heather have faced each other twice this year, at Buffalo Olympic and Minneapolis. Cathy won both races and Heather placed 2nd. CY's margin at Buffalo was a hefty 2:53. Her margin at the drastically abbreviated Minneapolis race was 45 seconds.

But Heather is faster and more confident now than she was on June 2 (Buffalo ) and July 13 (Minneapolis).

We can't wait to see what happens at Weaver Lake Park on Saturday. And we're not just talking about the epic confrontation between CY and HL.

Predictions:

- We're picking Iowa's Kris Spoth to repeat as Collegiate champ and finish 2nd overall in the Olympic race behind Sean Cooley, who is also racing on Sunday (Superior Man).

- We're picking Heather Lendway's sister Lisa to win the MG Sprint. We believe that she will share the Winners Circle with with David Phillips.

To learn more about the Maple Grove Triathlon, visit the event WEBSITE. FYI, registration is closed.