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Worth the Drive...
- Created: Wednesday, 16 July 2025 16:09
- Last Updated: Saturday, 19 July 2025 11:11 Sunday, 20 July 2025 00:10
- Written by Jerry MacNeil
- Hits: 843
By Mitchell Clayton
Timberman Sprint Triathlon Race Report - For me, the build started back in May after DNF-ing the Clear Lake triathlon (which was changed to a duathlon). Clear Lake was an early season “A” race, and I was having the race of my life until a flat tire with 3 miles to go. So, I took an easy week with no structured training, and then built back up through all of June so I could hit my last two races of the season hard, starting with Timberman.
This was my 3rd time racing the Timberman sprint. It’s a challenging course – the bike is undulating and the run has some short, steep hills at the start and end – but it’s one of those courses that doesn’t slow down times by being hard. Race morning was smoggy from wildfire smoke, and wind was moderate out of the west, but temps were pretty nice for racing.
The swim was a self-seeded time trial start. The water was pretty choppy from the wind, and we’d be heading straight into the waves for the short stretch between the two turn buoys. I started a few people back from Brooks Grossinger, who I met for the first time waiting for the start, and Sean Pickle started right behind me. I was able to dolphin dive a lot at the start and end of the swim and did my best slice through the chop. Ended up with the fastest swim of the day, so solid start to the race.
Like I mentioned, the bike course is undulating and has some tricky sections to navigate while getting in and out of the resort area. I settled into my goal power once I hit the first straightaway and tried to conserve my energy for the uphills and for the long straightaway between miles 8 and 10 since it’s mostly a gradual uphill, and this...
year it was directly into the wind. My overall power was a bit lower than at Clear Lake, but I did execute my plan well and had my highest 5-minute power of the day on that consequential couple of miles from 8 to 10. Had the fastest bike split of the day, 25.2mph for 11.2 miles, and I was thrilled with that speed given the difficulty of the course and conditions.
The run starts off with a short but steep uphill, downhill, and uphill. I was zapped after the first K and just told myself to settle into a pace I could maintain for the rest of the run. I hit the turnaround and saw Brooks charging HARD with Sean in pursuit of him. I tried to pick up the pace, but Brooks passed me with about half a mile to go and crossed the line first, but because of the TT start I ended up finishing just a few seconds quicker overall.
Brooks, Sean, and I all had solid performances despite the day’s challenging conditions, claiming 3 of the 7 fastest times posted on this course. Timberman is a great event in a great location. “Minnesota’s Premier Destination Triathlon” definitely deserves that title and the drive up to Grand Rapids is always worth it for this race!
