Race Coverage

National Titles for Guenther & LaFrance...

Tuesday, 02 February 2016 00:10

ED. Here is the USAT coverage of last Sunday's King Boreas / USAT Winter Tri Championships:

By USATRIATHLON.ORG

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota age-group athletes Jan Guenther and Joel LaFrance raced their way to national titles on Sunday at the USA Triathlon Winter Triathlon National Championships, held as part of the King Boreas Winter Triathlon at Lake Phalen...

Guenther (Long Lake, Minn.) clocked in at 1 hour, 40 minutes, 51 seconds on the 5-kilometer run, 15-kilometer bike, 7-kilometer ski event to grab the women’s overall title as well as the women’s 55-59 age group title.  The course had shifted slightly in the days before the event due to unexpectedly warm temperatures in St. Paul, which made the snow-covered portions of the course slick.

“We managed to get the ski on. It wasn’t icy, which was great,” said Guenther, who considers herself a skier by trade and plans to do IRONMAN Wisconsin later this year. “It would have been harder than I expected if it was icy. The bike [was the most challenging part], because I’m not a very technical biker.”

Cindi Bannink (Madison, Wis.) finished second overall for the women, winning the 35-39 age group in 1:42:57, and Jeanne Fleck (Proctor, Minn.) was third overall in 1:44:11, which earned her the women’s 50-54 age group title.

LaFrance (Plymouth, Minn.) posted the fastest overall time of the day in 1:24:19, which also clinched the winning time for the men’s 35-39 age group despite breaking a ski pole before the finish. READ MORE