Race Coverage

Doing it Their Own Way....

Tuesday, 24 May 2016 00:10

GEAR WEST DUATHLON COVERAGE - Pre-race faves Matt Payne and Suzie Fox lived up to expectations on Sunday at the 24th Gear West Duathlon, which was contested in uncharacteristically perfect conditions. (Temps were near 70, the sky was cloudless and wind wasn't an issue.) But they accomplished their victories in different ways.

Payne, who would record his 42nd multisport win, showed why he is a two-time US Duathlete of the Year. He led from the get-go and steadily built his lead until his final margin of victory was 2:41. It was his first race of the year and he admitted that "It hurt like hell!"

Payne is now a three-time GWD champ...

Up-and-comer Nathan Anspaugh gave eventual runner-up Kevin O'Connor a good race through the first two legs, but the patient 44-year-old Master Duathlete & Triathlete of the Year HM (2015) ran him down early in the final phase.

Kevin won eight multis last season, an unprecedented feat for a Minnesota master. In two starts this season, he has a win (masters record) and a 2nd.

Returning to Minnesota in 2015 from Colorado where he was doing, we think, dental school stuff, Anspaugh demonstated at two of the Life Time Series Races--7th at Minneapolis and 5th at Maple Grove--that he would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Missing the men's podium by one spot was 57-year-old phenom James Hannon, who richly deserved his Du Master of the Year HM in 2015.

Two AG men managed to lower divisional records. Greg Dummer's 1:22:58, was 2:05 faster than the 45-49M previous best, and Leonard Klun rewrote his own record in the 60-64M category. His 1:35:51 was 5:17 faster than the mark he set a year ago.

Whereas Matt led from the get-go, Suzie, like Kevin, waited until the final run to assert her authority. Eventual runner-up Angela Kidd, an Illinois transplant with a ton of talent and potential, led going into T1; Kortney Haag, who would earn the final podum spot, made up a huge chunk of time on the bike and led the women's field into T2. Aggressively, Fox ran down Haag, then kept the hammer down, not allowing the hard-charging Kidd to close the gap.  Suzie's win, her third here, required the 2nd fastest amateur time in the history of this route (1:25:38), which was put in place in 2013. Kidd's 1:26:13 was impressive, too. Only Fox (2015, 2013) and Elaine Nelson (2014) have faster clockings on this course.

Three women were able to break AG records, starting with Julia Weisbecker's 1:29:10, which landed her in 6th place overall and lowered the women's 50-54 mark by 5:14.

The other records were set by Jan Guenther, 56, who's 1:31:10 bettered her division's standard by a ton (15:08!), and Sheri Schrock's 1:46:31, which lowered the 60-64 CR by almost a ton (14:05).

Approximately 230 athletes registered for this annual classic. RESULTS

Photos by Drew Frakes.

ED. Sean Cooley sent us this FB message about Nathan Ansbaugh:

Nathan Ansbaugh is a good friend of mine from residency. He is a first year emergency medicine resident here at HCMC and will be around for at least 3 years for residency. He was training buddies with Eric Langerstrom before Eric went big time and Nathan went to medical school. Nicest guy in the world and excited to have him in the Midwest!! Of note, I think every race he has done in the MSP area he has been at work until well after midnight and then going to these races on just a couple hours of sleep. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

Thanks, Sean. See you at Apple.