Race Coverage

Gear West Duathlon Stuff...

Saturday, 22 May 2010 19:00

GW Du Start

In an earlier post we admitted that it was more fun to be wrong than right when predicting racing performances. Well, we were in ecstasy after Sunday's Gear West Duathlon.

Here's our projected Top 5 men and women with their actual placings in parenthesis alongside:

Men

David Thompson (1)
Brooks Grossinger (3)
Chad Millner (5)
Devon Palmer (6)
Patrick Parish (2)

Women

Jenny Wilcox (2)
Cathy Yndestad (1)
Julie Hull (4)
Marlo McGaver (5)
Suzie Finger (9)

Finishing a surprising 4th was Josh Riff, who is best known for his long course prowess. This is so cool. Cathy Lee, who was overlooked when predictions were being made, placed 3rd in the women's race. This, too, was very, very cool!

We were most pleased with Patrick Parish's emergence. We are reluctant to call his effort a "2nd place" finish, preferring to acknowledge that the event had both a pro champ--DKT--and an amateur winner, Patrick Parish.

Don't be surprised if Patrick and Josh earn Most Improved nominations at season's end.

Photo: Julia Weisbecker. The 44-year-old from Mendota Heights raced brilliantly at Gear West, finishing 7th against a national level field. If her name is unfamiliar, you may know her by Julia Mairs (pronounced "Mars," like the planet or the candy bar.) FYI, she has a really cool blogsite and has posted a GW race report. Check it out: LINK.

PS: Richfield's Lucas Pedersen pulled off a "du double" last weekend, winning in rainy Spicer (Green Lake Du) on Saturday, then bouncing back against a rather bottomless field at Gear West, where he placed a respectable 23rd.