Race Previews
Party Invitation & Previews....
-
Tuesday, 14 August 2018 23:20
- SWIM + BARBECUE! Hosted by Gear West Bike & Triathlon and the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon!
JOIN US!
For a swim + barbecue at Long Lake (one minute west of Gear West)
Lake Minnetonka Triathlon race participants (who sadly, did not race this year due to
adverse weather conditions) and Gear West triathletes + swimmers + skiers who swim +
runners who swim!
DETAILS:
Swim starts at 10:30 (meet at GW at 10:15 and we will head down to the park)
Swim length can be ½ mile (or less, because you can just turn around) to 1 mile from beach
to the Orono beach (the GW Ram van will take us back to the starting beach)...
Barbecue (complements of Ross Rogney - Race Director of the Lake Minnetonka Triathlon)
will begin at 11:00 am. Gear West will provide drinks. You can bring any other dish to share!
Bonus early Saturday morning run! If you would like more physical activity, Gear West hosts
a trail run at 8:00 am. We meet at Gear West and run for an hour or so. We will be done
by 9:30 and plenty of time to shop for fun stuff before the swim.
If bad weather (we will continue to blame it on Ross and the Lake Minnetonka association)
- we will send out an alternative plan.
The event is free! We just need you to RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for the swim + food.
- YOUNGLIFE TRIATHLON
The organizers of this Saturday's YoungLife Olympic & Sprint Triathlons in Detroit Lakes are ecstatic! They are anticipating a record turnout. The entrant list they shared with us last week had 444 names on it. Wouldn't it be cool if this great event drew 500-plus participants?
Here's some predictions: The sprint will be won handily by Fargo's BRANDEN SCHEEL in course record time. If so, it will be Branden's fifth CR, fourth on Minnesota soil, of the season. Also, we congratulate Scheel on his Top 10 performance at Sprint Nationals last Sunday.
We aren't ready to name a woman's sprint winner yet, believing that a later registrant will prevail, but will say that we are anxious to see how 10-year-old JOCELYNN HOEFS of Grand Forks fares. She's amazingly talented for her age, and could finish in the Top 5 in the women's competition.
In the Olympic race, our women's pick is obvious: BECKY YOUNGBERG. She's coming off a CR win at Green Lake and we are sure she will turn in the kind of effort that will land her in the overall (men and women) Top 5. We predict a sub 2:15 for her, which puts her in the company of past champs HANNA GRINAKER and MARNIE WALTH.
For the me, we predict a knock-down-drag-out battle between Big Lake winner RYAN COLLISON and DAVID LEWIS, who is coming off his fastest performance ever at Northwoods. FYI - Lewis was 3rd here in 2017, with Collison claiming 4th place. RACE WEBSITE
- ST. PAUL TRIATHLON
Triathlon is returning to Lake Phalen and we couldn't be happier about it. Obviously we are not the only ones, either. A great turnout is anticipated, as the entrant list we perused last week contained almost 350 names. We'd love to see that number bump into the 400s.
In our humble opinion, the St.Paul Tri has the best run course in The Cities. It consists of a single lakeside loop for the Sprint, and two circuits for the Olympic. The route is scenic, undulating, though not quite whay you'd call "hilly."
We are unprepared to predict winners, believing that later registrants, perhaps someone like MATT PAYNE and/or DIANE HANKEE, will finish on top.
We're really looking forward to Saturday's event, and hope to see many of you there. RACE WEBSITE
