Race Previews

Doozies....

logoGraniteman - Clearwater Preview - The MTN Guys enjoy making predictions. Typically, we predict winners and overall podium finishers. When we glanced at the G-Man - Clearwater start list, though, we got totally excited about the AG battles, and there are going to be some doozies.

So, we are going to bypass the overall predictions, i.e. we are not going to reveal that we think that Dennis Dane and Jamie Heying will win, and predict instead the winners of the non-open-class Age Groups. If 50% of our picks are correct, we are going to celebrate with a two liter bottle of Diet Pepsi and a Hawaiian pizza from Red's Savoy. If we get less than 50% right, we'll get some stuff from Leann Chin.

Win win....

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It's a Maturity Thing...

logoNorth Mankato Triathlon Preview- The 15th edition of this event will happen at Hiniker Park in, appropriately, North Mankato next Sunday. If you haven't done the NMT and you're free on Sunday, we wholeheartedly recommend that you get registered-up.

We glanced at the 250ish-member entrant start list and believe that more than half of the men's and women's overall Top 10s will be athletes over the age of 40. On the men's side, we predict that three of those masters will be 50-plussers. On the women's side, we suspect that one fiftogenarian will place in the Top 10. We're talking about Carol Marston, who is a Hoot! Do you know her? She's very friendly and smiles all the time. Carol placed ninth here last year....

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An Annual Classic...

runnersLake Waconia XXIV - The most competitive of the five tris that will be staged in Minnesota (and Hudson, WI) this weekend will be the Lake Waconia Triathlon. Races don't have to have crazy-good fields to be excellent, of course, but those that do invariably have an extra layer of excitement.

The LWT has been Minnesota's qualifying event for the Best of the US National Championship since the BOUS Series began in 2005. Though this has doubtlessly contributed to LWT's impressive field quality, one need only look at the fields that were assembled prior to ought-5 to see that this race has always appealed to fast folks.

Who'll will be racing on Sunday? Here are some of the fast guys and gals that will be there.

- David Thompson - DKT hasn't raced here since 2004, his first season as a pro. He won that year. (He placed 3rd in his only other LWT appearance in 2001.) He has not raced on the current .5-20-4 course, which has been in place...

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V3 Minneman Stuff...

mmMinneman IX - The 9th annual Minneman Sprint and 2nd annual Minneman Olympic, hereafter known as the V3 Minneman, are set for this Saturday at Lake George in Oak Grove. The tri venue is one of the region's best and the courses are flat, fast and scenic. The sprint is as fine an introductory experience as any in the region.

Let's do some predictions. Understanding that the weekend is engorged with races--Minneman, Average Jo, Croixathlon, Lake Waconia and North Mankato--which spreads the talent around like cream cheese on a bagel, and that the registration list we saw was partial and that some late sign-ups will likely finish well, we will say that we have a special level of excitement for

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The Midwest's "Arrrgh-iest" Triathon...

logoCroixathlon XIII Preview - The eight edition of our region's "arrgh-iest" triathlon will take place at Camp St. Croix south of Hudson, Wisconsin on Saturday. The buccaneer-themed event is a hoot and we recommend it as highly as, say, David Holden and Dan Cohen, do. Both of those guys are two-time champions and both have called the event, "My favorite race."

Croixathlon is challenging, yet laid-back, serious, but not fun-drainingly so. You have your choice of a plethora of events (six, actually) this weekend, ....

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G-Man Series Launch...

logoGraniteman-St. Cloud Preview - More than 400 athletes are expected to toe the starting line at the 2nd annual Graniteman St. Cloud Triathlon on Sunday. The race's debut was wildly successful and received a lot of support in the Race of the Year balloting. This year's race, which kicks off the three-event Graniteman Tri Series, should be even better.

Though history tells us that a significant percentage of eventual Top 5 overall finishers and AG podium players sign up during race week, we will still predict this year's winners. ....

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