FEATURES

2023 Women's Performance of the Year Nominees...

Friday, 01 December 2023 00:10

By Mav

2023 Women's Performance of the Year - Goose and I have previously revealed our thoughts for the 2023 Male Performance of the Year nominees, and now it’s time to evaluate the Minnesota’s stellar women’s performances. The competition is full of household names, and high level efforts at a variety of races made narrowing the list to 3 very challenging. In alphabetical order by the athlete’s last name, here are my nominees for the 2023 Female Performance of the Year:"

Elena Hengel’s win at Buffalo Sprint: Elena posted the fastest women’s time on the day, but she was also less than 4 minutes off Brian Storhaug’s overall winning time. Elena had the 5th fastest swim and 9th fastest bike split overall. Also, her time of 1:04:09 has only been bettered twice (Cindy Blackstock, 2012, in 1:03:18 and Cheryl Zitur, 2016, in 1:03:22). Oh, and Elena took over 2 minutes off her winning time from 2022.

Heather Lendway’s overall win at Hopkin’s Royal: Heather, the former pro, national champ, and world champ, only knows how to win. On an ideal day in early September, she went 1:05:48 on Hopkin’s incredible course, beating her closest male competitor by almost 3 full minutes....

Shyanne McGregor’s amateur win at 70.3 Maine: Though 70.3 Maine’s swim is literally downriver, Shyanne crossed the line in 4:28:25 and managed to take the overall female amateur win  against an internationally competitive field. Furthermore, she would have placed 13th against the women’s pro field on the day.

Goose's Comment: Once again, I think that four performances need to be nominated, and my fourth would be either Caryn Herrick's fast win at Trinona Olympic (Only Heather Lendway's has gone faster there), or her brisk 2nd (4:37:47) at Door County Half, where she was beaten by transplanted Minnesotan Nicole Heininger, who we wholeheartedly believe deserves the female Athlete of the Year in the US  award in 2023. This said, I favor Caryn's  Trinona win, where her 2:12 on that legendary course is faster than those recorded by Ruth Brennan Morrey (2:13:36 and 2:14:35) in 2017 and 2012 respectively, and Cathy Yndestad in 2013 (2:15:23).