Race Coverage

POY Talk....

Tuesday, 28 June 2016 00:10

LAKE WACONIA TRIATHLON - The young 2016 multi season here in Minnesota has been marked by several outstanding performances, but none have been, in our opinion, outstandinger than the one's turned in by BF/GF Sean Cooley and Hanna Grinaker last Sunday at the 27th annual Lake Waconia Triathlon. We'd be flabbergasted if these amazing efforts were not nominated for Performance of the Year at season's end.

We'll start with Hanna (photo by Drew Frakes). When she blasted out of T2 on the heels of leader Lisa Lendway, those who watched knew that the game was over. Minnesota's Uber-Rookie ran at UW-Madison and few if any of her amateur peers can match strides with her. The question at that point was not whether she would win, but by how much. A course record was a foregone conclusion. Only injury could get in the way....

The CR set by Suzie Fox, Minnesota's TOY in 2015, was 1:33:05. At the 1:29 mark, Hanna was visible at the top of the final hill and descending fast. She sprinted across the finish line one minute later, her extraordinary 1:30:00 a three-plus minute improvement on Fox's record.

Grinaker has raced in only four multis, but has won twice, both in record time (resoundingly so!), and finished 2nd the other two outings, both in non-rookie, crazy-fast clockings.

Fresh off a fast victory, the 10th of her career, the previous weekend at Lake Minnetonka, Christina Roberts, was in third place when she exited T2. By mid-run, she was in 2nd hoping to hold onto her place. The pedal was on the floor. On the final descent to the finish, though, Diane Hankee, who has two wins already this season, barreled by. Roberts tried, but couldn't answer the challenge.

Hankee crossed in 2nd place. Her time was 1:31:42, 1:19 better than the previous women's best. Eleven seconds later, Roberts completed the women's podium. Lendway (1:32:15) was the fourth and final woman to break last year's CR.

When records fall, it is usually by a single person. Occasionally, two athletes will accomplish that feat. Seeing four athletes do it is almost unheard of, and incredibly thrilling to behold. And it goes to show just how deep the female talent is here in Minnesota.

Cooley came into the race confident that he could win. Knowing that he'd have to dominate the bike leg, he did just that. He enjoyed a three minute lead on eventual runner-up Kevin O'Connor coming out of T2. O'Connor is a great runner, but he would need more than four miles, LWT's run distance, to close that gap. Barring catastrophe, Cooley was going to win. Knowing that fleet-footed guys like Josh Blankenheim and Brooks Grossinger, and let's add the name Jordan Roby here, too, were in pursuit, KO pushed hard. After he made the turn-around, he could measure his lead over those men.

Cooley did win, and like his girlfriend, who would win her race exactly ten minutes after he claimed his W, set a course record. His 1:30-even was a 1:21 improvement on Matt Payne's year-old CR. (FYI, LWT had used the same courses between 2007 and 2014. In 2015, due to construction, the bike course was amended, reducing its distance from 19.8 to 19.4. Race management plans to keep this present route.) According to our records, the win, perhaps the biggest of his career, was the 13th for the Grand Forksian since he began racing on Minnesota dirt in 2011.

For the second straight year, O'Connor finished 2nd. His time--1:22:06--was a masters record.

Blankenheim, Grossinger and emerging star Roby grabbed the next three spots.

A plethora of outstanding AG performance were turned in on that beautiful, Midwestern summer day, the most notable of which were posted by Lauren Steinke and Cheryl Zitur. Steinke, only 16, managed to crack the women's Top 10 in a time--1:40:20--that left all prior junior female results in the dust. 

Zitur, 52, finished 6th overall in the women's competition. Her 1:35:54 was a divisional CR and rivaled the prior performances of legendary 10-time Minnesota Master of the Year, Jan Guenther, who has been recognized for decades as one of America's premier amateur multisportswomen.

Zitur's own legend is building fast.

Zitur is scheduled to donate a kidney to her ailing son, Chris, on June 30. Her 2016 resume features two overall wins, one a CR, the other a MR, a 50+ win at Apple and her MR at LWT. Despite its lack of volume, we would be surprised if Cheryl did not earn another nomination for MOY, an award she had won in 2014 and 2015.

Approximately 250 athletes participated. As always, Final Stretch, led by exuberant director Mark Bongers, produced an awesome experience for all involved. RESULTS