Race Coverage

Holden & Haag Win Again...

Monday, 05 September 2016 05:10

Photo  - Lisa Lendway and Sara Conrad.

ST. CROIX VALLEY OLYMPIC TRIATHLON - DAVID HOLDEN and KORTNEY HAAG continued their winning ways last Saturday at the St. Croix Valley Olympic Triathlon. For Holden, it was his fifth SCV victory. For Haag, it was her fourth.

On paper, it appeared that David and Kort won easily, but it was only true in Haag's case. Holden was aided perhaps by the fact that eventual runner-up, WADE CRUSER, missed a turn which added a mile to two to the bike route. Still, it's impossible to say that David would not have won had Wade not zigged when he  should have zagged. Holden's lead coming out of the water was huge, the kind of margin that's hard to make up....

In the end, Holden's 2:02:22, a 45-49 course record despite a long swim, was 4:04 faster that Cruser's silver medal time.

The final men's podium spot was earned by River Falls guy TED TREISE. According to his FB page, Ted is into "Train." We wonder if he knows what "Drops of Jupiter" is really about?

LISA LENDWAY and KELLI MORETTER-BUE took 2nd and 3rd for the women. In addition to being awesome triathletes, Lisa knows a lot about statistical stuff and Kelli speaks fluent Spanish.

One hundred and twelve athletes finished the 14-year-old SCVO, which was contested in ideal racing conditions. RESULTS

ST. CROIX VALLEY SPRINT - MITCHELL CLAYTON, 19, won his first multisport race back in April, and has gone on to record four more victories since then, the most recent of which was the SCVS in Hudson last Saturday. The lanky Forest Laker led throughout and his eventual margin of victory over runner-up JACOB BRAATEN, a 24-year-old UW-Superior student, was 4:04.

It's always cool to witness someone's first ever win, and SARA CONRAD posted hers last Saturday, and like Clayton, her MOV was substantial.

Placind 2nd in the women's race was ANDREA TREMAINE, who loves cats (photo R) and dogs and enjoyed the movie "The Holiday," wherein Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslett swap houses and end up stealing each others' boyfriends. But it's okay because neither woman really liked their original boyfriend all that much.

JESSICA DEEGAN and DAN DUFF rounded out their gender's podium.

Two hundred and thirteen athletes finished the 16th annual SCVS. Also, a total of 66 tri rookies, most of whom participated in The Rookie Experience, a cool mentoring program that the event producers--Final Stretch--plan to continue in 2017. That is a good thing.  RESULTS