Race Previews

Lake Waconia XXVI Preview....

Tuesday, 23 June 2015 06:10

LAKE WACONIA PREVIEW - There are five Minnesota tris scheduled for next weekend. We don't know much about three of them--Average Jo, St. James and Tri for Health--but we sure hope that they are successful and attract the kind of numbers that justify their continuance.

One of the other two races is Saturday's By George, which is Uncle Randy's resurrection of the original race by that name that took place in the 80s, and it's successor, Minneman. The Lake George venue is outstanding and the park is the kind you'll want to hang out in for a few hours after the event, perhaps do some barbequeing. We don't know who's racing there, so we can't make any competition-related predictions. We do know that Uncle Randy will bring the fun and that a good time will be had by all. If you're free on Saturday, we hope to see you at Lake George....

The other race is the venerable Lake Waconia Triathlon, which is slated for Sunday and produced by Final Stretch, who put on awesome races. The race will celebrate its 26th birthday and will certainly be the most competitive of the weekend's triathlons.

Based on the reg. list that we perused, we predict that Matt Payne will win for the 3rd consecutive year. Matt's faster than ever this season--and he's undefeated in four starts--so, weather permitting, we think he'll challenge Dan Hedgecock's amazing CR-1:20:57, set in 2011. Matt's PR is 1:22:06. A 1:39 improvement is, as they say, a tall order. Still, a new course record wouldn't surprise us.

The rest of the men's podium? Kevin O'Connor's racing like a banshee right now, so he's our pick to nip Josh Blankenheim for the #2 spot.

As for the women, Bridget McCoy, who has a handsome or pretty dog (photo R), depending on his or her gender, is our favorite based on the list we saw. She'll want to avenge having gone off course last Sunday at RochesterFest, so she'll be motivated. We suspect that two or three top women will enroll this week and provide Bridget with all the challenge she can handle. We'd love to see RochesterFest champ Gaby Bunten as a late sign-up so as to resurrect the battle that didn't get a chance to unfold last Sunday.

UPDATE: We just learned that Kortney Haag has enrolled. Based on a dissection of what she did at Buffalo Olympic, we think that she is ready to go to the front and stay there. We pick her to win.

2nd UPDATE: Wait a minute! It looks like Lisa Lendway will race, too. Wow! This women's field is gonna be awesome, though they always are at this race. Getting excited. Need adult diapers.

3rd UPDATE: There's a very good chance that defending women's champ, Nicole "Heiney" Heininger will race. And Kyle Serreyn, too! Sweet! Oops! We had an accident.

4th UPDATE: Just heard from Suzie Fox. Looks like she'll be racing at Waconia, too. She's won her last three races. Can't wait for Sunday to get here.

So, who's ou pick to win? Either Suzie or Kort or Bridget or Lisa. Or Elaine Nelson, if she decides to race. We hope she does.

We also expect to see a major effort from Tony Schiller, 57. He already owns the 45-49M and 50-54M CRs and we believe, after his stellar effort at Lake Minnetonka last Saturday, that he'll take Charlie Roach's 55-59M mark down by 4-5 minutes, maybe more. In case you don't know, Tony is the King of the Lake Waconia Triathlon, having won it an unprecedented 11 times.

For grinzies, here's some of our AG winners predictions, based on the list we saw:

MEN:

- 19U - Parker Roehl - 55-59 - Tony Schiller - 70+ Hank Larsen (We also think that Kevin O'Connor has a good chance of breaking Brian Bich's 2010 masters record - 1:22:39)

WOMEN:

- 45-49 - Sarah Mercer (though Ann Snuggerud will give her a great battle), 50-54 - Tracy Serreyn (unless Heidi Keller-Miler, who ALWAYS rocks socks at this race, decides to enroll this week) - 65-69 - Peggy Buxton (MA)

And you can still get in. This is an awesome race, as so many know. For those who have never done this event, we urge you to sign up. If you do, we are certain that it will become an annual staple in your racing diet. RACE WEBSITE