Race Previews

Winter Tri Nationals Moves to Wirth Park...

Saturday, 01 December 2018 23:10

USA Triathlon is excited to join the Loppet Winter Triathlon for the 2019 USA Triathlon Winter Triathlon National Championships! The event will take place on Sunday, March 17 at Theodore Wirth Regional Park, just west of Downtown Minneapolis. Don't miss your chance to compete in triathlon's most unique form! ...

The Final Multi of the Season...

Tuesday, 25 September 2018 23:10

FALL CLASSIC DUATHLON - The 13th edition of this season-finale event will happen this Saturday, and we hope that Minnesota athletes will take advantage of the opportunity to extend their seasons.

Have you read the event overview on TriFitnessWBL.com? Even if you have, we are reprinting it here because it's enticing stuff.

Join us for this fall classic that effectively finishes the multisport season in Minnesota. Same great course and same great time, but now managed by Tri Fitness and timed by Randy Fulton. The run course remains in the park and has participants running on paved trails. This is a fairly flat course with a shorter second run – just when you need it most! (The first run is 3 miles, the second 2.5 miles.) Enjoy the rolling hills of the park and surrounding horse country on your 14 mile bike ride. This is a great course for first time duathletes as well as those more experienced duathletes looking to get in one more multisport event during the 2018 racing season or gauge their race performance against their earlier finish time for the spring classic held on the same course....

Will Minnesotans Rock at IMOO? We Think So...

Wednesday, 05 September 2018 23:10

IRONMAN WISCONSIN - Can you believe that Ironman Wisconsin will celebrate it's 17th anniversary on Sunday? It's true. Our region's grandest multisport event, one that is arguably the premier "domestic," ie. "mainland," 140.6, has been around for almost two decades already.

Time flies when you're having fun....

Square Lake XIX Preview...

Tuesday, 04 September 2018 23:10

SQUARE LAKE PREVIEW - Next Saturday and Sunday the Square Lake 70.3 (Saturday) and Sprint (Sunday) will happen. We glanced at an entrant list last week and saw that world class amateur endurance athlete JAN GUENTHER, now 59, was on the 70.3 start list. This got us excited. We recall the 2001 Square Lake races when Jan won the Half IM on Saturday, returned on Sunday and placed 2nd in the Sprint. Two years later--she missed 2002 because she was busy WINNING Ironman Wisconsin, which shared the same weekend--she won the half again. Exhausted, she lay in the grass afterward and asked how hot it was. She was told that temps were in the mid-90s, with dew points in the mid-70s. She replied, "Good. That explains why I feel so lousy."

Despite the broiling temps and juicy air, Jan set a course and masters record in 2003. Her time was a circumstantially remarkable 4:49:21...

Hopkins Preview...

Thursday, 30 August 2018 23:10

HOPKINS ROYAL PREVIEW - Doobie's event, a perennial "Race of the Year" nominee--it won the award in 2015, is all about celebrating healthy living and building community. It has never been about creating a highliy competitive race, though it has always managed to draw a few credentialed athletes.

This year is slightly different, though. Like it or not, Doob, you have got yourself a very talented field, but that won't diminish the event's deeply imprinted celebratory / community building legacy.

(FYI - One of the ways Doobie promotes "community" is by inviting the directors of other races promote their events at the Hopkins Royal Triathlon. His message is one of "unity" with other races, not competition among them. Pretty cool, huh.)

So, while the majority of the 400 entrants are playing and recreating this Saturday, a couple of dozen regional and national elites will almost certainly rewrite some records.

The current women's course record is SARAH MERCER's 1:09:39, set it 2014. That is also the women's masters record. While it is a very solid MR, SUZIE FOX proved in 2015, that it may be a tad soft as an overall CR. The bike course was longer that year, and Suzie's 1:11:02 was the equivalent of a high-1:06 / low-1:07 result.

We mention this because there are at least two women in this year's field that, weather permitting, and it looks like it will, should pop 1:06s or faster. We're talking about BECKY YOUNGBERG and NICOLE HEININGER. Youngberg will come in as the favorite, as she has won her last three races, all in record time. The 43-year-old Eden Prairie resident appears destined to receive a Triathlete of the Year nomination. We'd be very surprised if she didn't cover the 750 yard - 13 - 5K course in 1:05, or faster.

Then there's Heininger, who collected her 14th career win at Chisago Sprint. Since her Rookie of the Year season in 2013, she has established herself as a threat to win every race she enters....