Race Previews
2023 Timberman Olympic Preview...
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Wednesday, 05 July 2023 00:10
TIMBERMAN OLYMPIC PREVIEW - For the entrants list that we received last week, here, in alpha order, are some of the players who we expecy to be competitive next Saturday:
JOSH BLANKENHEIM, 42 (Photo on Page 2) - Winner here last year and in 2019, Josh also has three 2nd place awards from this race. Timberman is his first tri of the season, yet we think that, based on muscle memory, he is nevertheless the man to beat. A win would be the 15th of his multisport career.
JAN GUENTHER, 64 - Jan owns two divisional records from the prior course, and one from the current route, which has been in place since 2013. She finished 3rd overall here in 2022, which will be hard to match that this weekend. She should nevertheless crack the women's overall Top 10 and win her AG by a ton, as she has already done this year at Maribella 70.3 (ESP) and Lake Minnetonka.
DIANE HANKEE, 46 - Winner of 42 multis in her career, Diane could reach the overall podium this weekend. She should win her 45-49W AG.
BETH HASSLER, 67 - Owner of the 55-59W record here, and divisional champ here last year, Beth should once again win her AG. FYI, Beth won her AG at BIrkie in '22. Also, Beth is a HOOT! ...
Minnesota's Destination Triathlon!
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Monday, 03 July 2023 00:10
TIMBERMAN SPRINT PREVIEW - Next Saturday's Timberman Sprint, the 38th edition thereof, will once again feature the "usual suspects," and we couldn't be happier about that. We are focusing on the women's race here, with BETTINA KEPPERS and TARA MAKINEN, with ten T-Man wins between them, on top of the ticket, with JENA OGSTON ever in pursuit. (Ogston won in 2015 by the slimmest T-Man margin ever: 2-seconds. Super exciting race.)
But there is one non-usual suspect that can shake things up this year. Her name is LISA FILZEN, a former Most Improved nominee who had raced Timberman's Olympic event before, but is making her Sprint debut on Saturday. A glance at the Buzz Ryan results in 2021, where she placed behind only ELAINE NELSON, but ahead of CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN, who won't be racing this year because she's gearing up for the World Sprint Championships in her native Germany, and Ogston was all we needed to tag her a contender.
Meet Team OutPace...
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Saturday, 01 July 2023 00:10
By Mike Combs
Local triathlon clubs are great for the triathlon community and are a wonderful way for athletes to train together. When you go to a triathlon in Minnesota, you see athletes with tri club attire from so many different clubs. Tri West Triathlon is going to highlight the many great clubs around our great state, along with hosting the first annual Minnesota Triathlon Club Championship. Between now and Tri West, there will be articles from interviews from different triathlon clubs....
Tri West Hosts Club Championship..
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Thursday, 29 June 2023 00:10
By Mike Combs
Local triathlon clubs are great for the triathlon community and are a wonderful way for athletes to train together. When you go to a triathlon in Minnesota, you see athletes with tri club attire from so many different clubs. Tri West Triathlon is going to highlight the many great clubs around our great state, along with hosting the first annual Minnesota Triathlon Club Championship. Between now and Tri West, there will be articles from interviews from different triathlon clubs....
2023 Clearwater G-Man Preview...Updated..(Again)
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Tuesday, 20 June 2023 00:10
Graniteman Clearwater Preview - The historic 20th anniversary of the orginal Graniteman Triathlon will happen next Saturday and we hope you will be there for the celebration. And if you can believe it, the event has been at it's Clearwater venue for 14 of those years. Outgrowing its original site in Rockville, it relocated to Warner Lake in 2010.
The event consists of a Sprint (.44-14.33-5K) and bike-heavy Olympic (.9-28.66-10K) races and opens with a very cool swim across Warner Lake.
Who will be setting the pace on Saturday? Here are some of the credentialed athletes competing. Note that we got this list last week and expect many more compettive athletes to enroll.
- EMMA ADRIAENS (O) - Emma is coming off a 3rd place finish at Buffalo Olympic.
UPDATE: JOE ADRIAENS (O) - Joe's last two results in MInnesota races--2nd @ Chisago '22, 3rd @ Buffalo Olympic '23--make him one of the frontrunner.s on Saturday.
- MATA AGRE (O) - Mata cracked the Top 5 in both of the tris she did in 2022. A three-time Top 10 finisher here.
- BROOKS GROSSINGER (Sp) - Winner of at least 39 tris and dus, Brooks was 2nd here in 2022.
- DAVID HOLDEN (O) - 3rd here in 2022. David cracked the Top 10 at the Iowa State Triathlon Chamionships earlier this year....
2023 LMT - The Men...
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Wednesday, 14 June 2023 00:10
2023 LAKE MINNETONKA PREVIEW - The Men - Below, in alpha order, are our Top 5 and some Age Group predictions:
NOAH BILLINGS, 17- A prolific racer, he's going after Kyle Swenson's junior records in Minnesota triathlons. He placed 3rd overall here in 2022 and could actually better that on Saturday. Matching Swenson's 1:05:40 may not happen this year, but Noah has two more years of junior racing after this, so...
