Race Previews

Minnesota's State Tri Championships...

Wednesday, 13 July 2016 23:10

HEART OF THE LAKES TRIATHLON - The 31st edition of our State Championship Triathlon will happen in Annandale next Sunday. As always, a large and talented field will be on hand. We're excited to see how the races--International Range (Long Course) and Sprint--unfold.

For grins, we're going to share a few predictions:

- We believe that rookie phenom Hanna Grinaker will set a record for fastest first HOLT by an amateur woman. The existing record is owned by Wendy Peterson, whose first HOLT in 2003 produced a 1:41:54.

- We predict that the women's amateur podium will consist of Grinaker, defending champ Christina Roberts, and two-time winner (2012, 2014) Suzie Fox, not necessarily in that order. And despite having raced (and probably won) the Outland Challenge the day before, we're picking Bridget McCoy to place 4th. We think that Andrea Myers will roung out the women's Top 5....

- As at Minneapolis last Saturday, we believe that defending champ Matt Payne, and Sean Cooley, will battle for the win. We'll go out on a limb and predict that one or both of these guys will break 1:30, a feat that hasn't been done by an amateur male here since 2009. We are picking Josh Blankenheim to fill out the podium, and world class masters Kevin O'Connor, 44, and Brian Bich, 50, to finish 4th and 5th.

- We're not ready to predict the men's winner of the Sprint, because we suspect that he hasn't registered yet. Besides, it could be pro David Thompson, who has popped in on race day twice. DKT just missed breaking 40-minutes in 2014. Dang, we'd love to see a 39:50-something.

- We will predict the women's winner, though. We believe that Anne Grabowski will follow up her win at Minneapolis Sprint with a victory in Annandale. Her time will be smokin' fast, too. 48-49 minutes is our guess. (FYI, this is a big year for Minnesota's masters women. Limiting the MOY nominees at the end of the season to just four names will be a daunting task. Worthy candidates at this point in time include Cheryl Zitur, Andrea Myers, Julia Weisbecker, Anne Grabowski, Christel Kippenhan, Ann Snuggerud, Tracy Serreyn.)

As ever, the MTN Guys can't wait to get to Annandale next Sunday. We hope you feel the same. If you haven't registed yet, please do so at your earliest opportunity. Don't miss this special experience. RACE WEBSITE