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Relying on Our "Numbers Nerd"...

Thursday, 30 October 2014 01:10

ED. Stephen Bullard has been an invaluable member of the MMA Selection Committee since 2002. This year the Selectors were split on who to name as Male Master of the Year. We relied on Stephen, the Committee's resident numbers nerd, who has developed a very conservative age-grading system, to change some minds.

By Stephen Bullard

Minnesota Multisport Awards - This year's men's master award (40-59) was age graded, meaning older triathletes times in this category are handicapped to compare results and times for award purposes. After researching age graded calculators for swimming, biking, and running, a system of handicapping was developed to even the playing field and to allow comparison of a 41 year old against the results of a 56 year old. Basically, the formula assumes in a triathlon, where the bike leg time makes up roughly half of the total time to complete triathlons, the triathlete will slow down .7% in time each year after 40....

Danielson is Junior of the Year...

Wednesday, 29 October 2014 01:10

Minnesota Multisport Awards - Last Saturday evening, PAIGE DANIELSON (photo) was named 2014 JUNIOR OF THE YEAR. Here's why:

Though her resume appeared, at first glance, to be matched by fellow St. Cloud resident and ROY nominee Lauren Steinke, a closer look revealed that her (Paige's) scorecard was, in the opinion of all of the Selection Committee members, slightly superior. In her four non-drafting tris (we did not include her three DL races), Steinke, then age 14, never finished lower than 5th overall woman. She set AG records in three of those races. Brilliant. Hard to beat, right?

Danielson, 18, also raced four times, setting divisional CRs each time and finishing no lower than 4th in her regional starts. At Du Nationals she was Top Junior, placing 18th overall and her AG margin was more than 12-minutes. Moreover, her time--1:34:52--would have put her on the podium in the 20-24 (2nd), 25-29 (3rd) and 30-34 (2nd) AGs.

The goal of the JOY is to find the teen multisport athlete who is competitive with "credentialed" adult racers and has turned in times that rival or exceed existing divisional CRs. Like her...

The Slam Dunks & Race of the Year...

Tuesday, 28 October 2014 01:10

Minnesota Multisport Awards - MMA winners in most of the categories--Rookies, Male Master, Junior, Most Improved (Men and Women), Duathlete, Long Distance Athlete of the Year and Performance of the Year (Men and Women)--were extremely difficult to determine and required much analysis and debate.

On the other hand, the winners in four of the categories were considered by the Committee to be "Slam Dunks".

Arguably, the Slam Dunkiest of all the categories was GRAND MASTER OF THE YEAR. Though there were four great nominees, all of whom had the kind of season that may have won the award in prior years, one guy stood tall above the rest: GREG TAYLOR. With his victory at Nationals (margin: 3:13), 70.3 Worlds (4:42:14 - Margin: 16:16) and at Kona (Margin: 30:02), not to mention his...

Nygaard Nips Trom For ROY...

Monday, 27 October 2014 01:10

2014 MInnesota Multisport Awards - As promised, we are posting some of the reasons behind this year's MMA Selections. Let's start with the Rookie of the Year category.

Duluth's NICK NYGAARD (photo) won this year's ROY award. He is the first male to do so since 2006, when Rookie of the Year became a coed category. He raced four times in 2014, winning once (Green Lake Olympic), placing 2nd twice (Timberman and Brewhouse Sprints) and cracking the Top 5 in his long course debut at Superior Man (4:19). The committee was impressed with his times, comparing them to those of 2012 ROY runner-up/2013 Most Improved winner Brian Sames and 2008 ROY runner-up Patrick Parish.

Nick was not a runaway winner as KELLY TROM also enjoyed a brilliant first season. Trom, 27, of Minneapolis, impressed the Committee with her 2nd place finish at HITS-Waconia Half IM in a time of 4:48:09, arguably the best performance by a rookie in '14. Additionally, they liked the fact that she faced strong, i.e. "credentialed," competition in all three of her races. At HITS, she finished behind 2009 US AOY Cathy...