Race Previews
Bluff Land, St. Paul & Young Life Previews...
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Wednesday, 14 August 2019 23:10
There's three triathlons on Minnesota soil this weekend. All are on Saturday, and we hope you will support one of them. Contact your chosen event to see if race-day is available.
In alpha order, these are the events:
BLUFF LAND TRIATHLON - We must admit that we don't know much about this event, other than that it is extremely scenic and consists of a 5K run, followed by a 15.5 mile bike ride, and concluding with a 2.1 mile HIKE. Here's the website description:
Chip-timing will be used for all three legs of this Run – Bike – Hike. Register online to participate in the full triathlon or grab some friends and do a relay of the three activities. All segments start and end at Creekside Park in Rushford, Minnesota....
RUN 3.1 miles on the Root River Trail — follows Rush Creek and the Root River on an eastbound out-&-back route…
BIKE 15.5 miles on the Root River Trail — helmets required for this westbound, out-&-back, paved trail ride…
HIKE 2.1 miles on Magelssen Bluff — a 500-foot total ascent and the 290+ wooden steps up the StairClimber Trail…but the lush summer hillside and views from the top are worth it!
This sounds like a very cool experience. Also, bring your kayak and explore the Root River after the "race"? EVENT WEBSITE
ST. PAUL TRIATHLON - Celebrating its 13th anniversary, this Sprint and Olympic event features what we consider to be the best triathlon run course in the state. The route loops beautiful Lake Phalen, once for Sprinters, twice for Olympic distance racers.
Also, and this is huge (!), the St. Paul Tri has a vastly improved bike course. It is no longer on choppy Wheelock Parkway. Instead, it is on smooth Phalen Boulevard, the course that was used for the Best of the US National Championship races in 2014 and 2015.
We'd love to make some predictions, but haven't seen an entrant list.
Finally, an Aquabike has been added, and of course, loveable Uncle Randy will be timing the event. WEBSITE
YOUNG LIFE SPRINT & OLYMPIC - The 16th edition of these Detroit Lakes races should field a total of 400 athletes. We're picking a pair of past winners to lead the way in the Olympic race. A perennial podium finisher here, DAVID LEWIS landed on the Top Step in 2018, and should do the same on Saturday. He's enjoying a successful season, and is coming off another (his 6th) runner-up effort at Northwoods, his hometown race.
Brainerd's SARA CARLSON, winner here in 2017, will be gunning for her fourth career tri victory on Saturday, and we won't bet against her. She had a strong performance a few weeks back at Chisago, and we believe that she's fit enough to post a sub-2:20 on Saturday.
Hoot Lake winner JOELLEN KOHLMAN-PETRICK is our pick to take home the silver medal in the women's OLympic competition.
We're anxious to see how the battle between defending women's Sprint champ SIMONE LUNDQUIST, 16, and Pelican Rapids' PIPER DELAPOINTE shakes out. Simone is racing extremely well right now, and is known to be a fast finisher.
Delapointe posted her first career win earlier this season at Lake Minnewaska, but is she ready to to seriously challenge Lundquist? Based on a breakdown of Piper's splits at Minnewaska and Hoot Lake, we believe that Simone has the advantage.
We haven't got a men's favorite picked for the Sprint, believing that a late registrant will come out on top. We do think that North Dakota's JAME BOTNEN will claim a spot on the podium.
