Race Coverage

Broken Records, Leapt Fences & Bum Knees...

Tuesday, 30 June 2015 08:10

LAKE WACONIA TRIATHLON - Who said that triathlon wasn't a spectator sport? We think it was a guy named Larry.

Larry was wrong. Triathlon, while not the same kind of viewing experience that you have when you watch a stadium sport or sports on TV, has thrilling moments that more than make up for those periods when all the athletes are in the hinterlands, out of sight though not necessarily out of mind.

The 26th edition of the Lake Waconia Triathlon, which in our humble opinion is and has been a nearly perfect sprint race, happened last Sunday and it was chock full of exciting moments, spectator moments.

Perhaps the most entertaining of these moments happened when Northfield's Brian Porter was hammering toward the final 90-degree turn that led to, as the great Phil Liggett would say, The Finishing Line. On autopilot, Brian overshot the turn and was headed into the transition area when spectators alerted him to his boo-boo. Regaining consciousness, Brian turned around and headed back toward the finishing line. He made a hard left at the fencing, which he soon learned marked the outside, not the inside, of the finish corridor. Instead of backtracking yet again, he lept over the fence (photo) then stumbled toward the timing mat, which he rolled over. It was soooo cool to watch and the spectators LOVED IT. ...

Highly entertaining. Good stuff.

The race for podium spots were also fun to watch, and super inspiring, too. As was observing Tony Schiller's mind-blowing performance. Schiller, an 11-time champion here, is now 57 and isn't supposed to do the kind of stuff that he has done in the last two weeks. At Lake Minnetonka two Saturdays ago, he finished 4th overall in a time that an elite amateur half his age would have been proud of. At Waconia, he finished 6th amid an outstanding men's field and lowered his AG's race record by more than nine minutes. Once again, his time was stupid fast.

Tony's effort may or may not have been the performance of the day. Some might argue that Suzie Fox's significant lowering of a women's race record that had stood since 2007 was the day's most awesome effort. Until Sunday, Cathy Yndestad had been the only woman in the eight years that these course distances (.5 - 20 - 4) have been in place to crack 94 minutes, and she did so by only one second. Fox, who also won here in 2013, was pursued relentlessly by Bridget McCoy, who was having a breakout day. Suzie had to find new gears, which she did. Appropriately spent when she reached the Finishing Line in 1:33:05, it was clear to most who were watching that Fox had turned in a Performance of the Year type effort. The victory was her 4th in the last 14 days and sixth of the 2015 season. We forsee a 10+ win season for Suzie, which rarely happens. If she does so, she will become part of a very exclusive sorority, one that includes Yndestad (2008), Becky Youndberg (2004), Jenny Wilcox (2010) and, of course, Heather Lendway (12-wins in 2014).

Suzie now has 28 career wins dating back to her first one at Chaska in 2009.

McCoy, who has five career wins, might agree that her 2nd place at LWT in a silly-fast time of 1:34:01, trumps her victories.

The final podium step was earned by Kortney Haag in 1:35:14, her PR here. Her time would have been good enough to win four of the eight editions of this event that has utilized the current course distances.

Unsurprisingly, Matt Payne won the men's race, his third victory here in as many years. And he is so in the event's 3rd fastest time: 1:21:21, a PR. Only Dan Hedgecock (1:20:27 - 2011) and DKT (1:20:54 - pro win in 2013) have gone faster. The win was the 38th of Payne's multisport career and 5th in five starts in 2015. His peers are anxious to see how he'll fare at Nationals in early August. It's hard to imagine anyone of the amateur persuasion beating him right now.

As crazy-good as Payne's performance was, Kevin O'Connor's 2nd place effort was just as impressive, maybe a tad moreso. Just as it is hard to imagine anyone beating Matt right now, it is similarly difficult to imagine another amateur master who could outrace the 44-year-old from Medina. Kevin's time on Sunday was 1:23:45 and represented the 3rd time that KO has placed 2nd at the LWT. His 2015 scorecard features outright wins at Sprint Duathlon Nationals and Liberty Olympic, and amateur wins at Pigman Sprint and RochesterFest Olympic.

Finishing 3rd in the men's race was a guy who is, arguably, the frontrunner for the 2015 Most Improved award: Bennett Isabella. The 32-year-old dentist from Burnsville has raced eight times already this season and has only missed the podium twice (6th at Apple, 4th at Memphis in May Sprint.)

Lisa Lendway would have been listed among the women's faves coming into the race if it wasn't for a "knee thing" that resulted from a bike crash a few weeks back. Running for her hurts like a banshee, still she limped to a 10th place finish.

Lisa, you need to get that knee looked at.

The hyper-enthusiastic Mark Bongers, who is a HOOT!, and his Final Stretch crew did a wonderful job of producing the iconic Lake Waconia Triathlon. RESULTS

Photos courtesy of Mr. Finger, Suzie Fox's dad. Above pic (L - R) - Suz, Bridge, Leese, Kort & Snuggles.