Race Previews
Minnesota's Original "Destination Triathlon"...
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Wednesday, 09 July 2014 00:10
TIMBERMAN PREVIEW - Many of Minnesota's coolest multisport races are staged in rural or semi-rural areas, places that don't have enough athletes to justify staging a race. These locales, e.g. Green Lake in Spicer, Leech Lake in Walker, Lake Bemidji and Pokegema Lake, lure athletes from elsewhere, especially the state's urban areas because they are "Destination" races. Travelers are happy to book hotel rooms and eat in restaurants because the total experience is so much more than an athletic challenge. Words like "aesthetic" and "recreational" and "getaway" and "vacation" apply.
Saturday's Timberman, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary, is Minnesota's original "Destination Triathlon." Billed as our state's "Premier" DT, it is the model for all such events that have followed. (Moreover, the event is proudly produced by an entirely volunteer staff.)
T-Man has earned its reputation and richly deserves its iconic status. It saddens us, though, that it shares its date with our state's largest triathlon as well as...
Graniteman Turns 10!
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Monday, 07 July 2014 09:10
GRANITEMAN - CLEARWATER PREVIEW - This event, the original Graniteman, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this weekend. It's first five editions were staged in Rockville, after which it relocated to its current home in Clearwater. One of four races that will happen on Saturday--No races are slated for Sunday. What's up with that?--G-Man is the only one that is not experiencing declining enrollment.
Bill and the G-Man Events Gang must be doing something right.
Who do we think will win at Clearwater?
The obvious choice for women, based on the enrollment list we perused, is Nicole Heininger, the 2013 Minnesota Rookie of the Year, who is coming off a big victory at Lake Waconia. A win on Saturday would be the fifth of her young career....
Off The Front...
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Monday, 07 July 2014 08:00
Photo - Great artsy-fartsy YndeCam shot of Matt Payne winning the Best of the US Championship.)
13th Annual MINNEAPOLIS TRIATHLON - Elite Amateur Men - Two of the early frontrunners for 2014 USAT Athlete of the Year nominations are 22-year-old Steve Mantell of Fort Collins, Colorado, and Matthew Payne of Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Though Payne is undefeated in six starts thus far, Mantell probably has the AOY edge at the moment because he has excelled in major "national" events.
Check out Steve's sterling 2014 resume:
- 1st amateur @ Boulder 70.3 - 3:58
- 1st amateur @ Escape From Alcatraz (5th overall)
- 1st amateur @ Havasu Triathlon
- 1st amateur / 3rd overall @ USAT Collegiate Nationals (Olympic)
- 3rd overall @ USAT Collegiate Sprint Nationals....
The Epic-est Battle...
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Monday, 07 July 2014 07:00
13th Annual MINNEAPOLIS TRIATHLON - Elite Amateur Women - In 2011, Massachusetts' Catherine Sterling set the women's Elite Amateur course record at the Minneapolis Triathlon. Her time, 2:10:52, should go down hard on Saturday.
How hard?
Our guess is that it will take a 2:07 to win the women's EA title at the 13th annual Life Time Tri - Minneapolis. Why? Because the two women that are currently redefining the amateur standards for American female triathletes will be facing each other.
We're talking about defending USAT National Champion Heather Lendway of St. Paul (photo L), and Dani Fischer, who grew up in Rochester, played collegiate soccer at UW-Madison and now resides in Wausau, Wisconsin.
Lendway was runner-up for USAT Athlete of the Year in 2013 and she is even faster this year, a season in which she is undefeated in five starts with an average margin of victory of 9:42!...
Stuff About Tritonkids....
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Saturday, 05 July 2014 00:10
TritonKids is a youth triathlon event brought to you by Triton Events and Med City Aquatics. This year's event will take place at the Rochester REC Center on August 2 and will offer a unique, safe and challenging event for kids ages 6-17. The swim will take place in the safe environment of the REC Center's swimming pool while the bike and run will transition onto West River Pkwy. The race is a USAT sanctioned event and will be chip timed. All athletes will receive a cool race t-shirt, goodie bag and finishers medal. Awards will be given to top 3 male and female finishers in each age group. Food and refreshments will be provided for all athletes.
Age Groups & Distances
-Ages 6-8 (50 meter swim, 2 mile bike, 500 yard run)
-Ages 9-11 (150 meter swim, 4 mile bike, 1 mile run)....
Z-#3 Preview...
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Thursday, 03 July 2014 00:10
ED. Just got an email from Nate at Timberman. Registration closes on Saturday, at midnight we suppose. That would be Saturday-to-Sunday midnight, not Friday-to-Saturday midnight. Act quickly if you want to get into this 30-year-old classic event. WEBSITE.
Z-TRI PREVIEW - Brendon O’Flanagan, who has an awesome son, Cal (photo L), won two tris in 2013 en route to a Most Improved nomination. We think that he’ll win at least three races this year, the next of which, we predict, will take place tomorrow—July 4--at majestic Pokegema Lake south of Grand Rapids. The event is the 3rd annual Z-Tri and it perpetuates the legacy of Uncle Randy’s (Frontrunnerusa) Freedom Triathlon, an Independence Day tri that enjoyed a short but sweet history at West Park in White Bear Lake.....
