Race Coverage
Falls Du Kicked Off 2017 Multi Season...
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Monday, 01 May 2017 05:10
FALLS DUATHLON - The MTN Guys were not at Falls Du this year. Bummer. We really love that race. So, tasked with posting some coverage, we went to Steve Stenzel's great blog site (lINK) to learn about the conditions, weather-wise, and to get a feel for the event. He didn't give us much in the way of climatology, but mentioned that it was breezy, though not hurricanic, as it has been in year's past. Studying all the great photos he posted, we'd guess that it wasn't a warm day, 30s-40s probably, and the clouds were as thick as cold oatmeal making for grey racing conditions...
We stated in our preview that we expected some late sign-ups to have an impact on the overall race. That was certainly the case on the men's side. 2016 Most Improved nominee Jordan Roby (photo below) was one those guys and he totally...
rocked. He manage to split the pre-race faves Jesson Baumgartner, who took the Gold in a convincing effort,and Kevin O'Connor, who bronzed.
Other procrastinators who Top Tenned were Mitch Brekke, who was considered for an MI nomination in 2016, who took 6th, and Mario Minelli, who may have been a tad rustier than most of the other guys, who placed 9th.
Placing fifth was 2:33 marathoner Jacob Olsen, who may be someone to watch this year.
In the women's race, the top six finishers stuck to the script. Ruth Brennan Morrey, America's premier female duathlete, and Dani Vsetecka, certainly one of our country's best amateur run-bike-runners, went 1-2, of course. Ruth's time was awesome, 1:05:55, and missed her 2016 CR by just eighteen seconds. Dani's 1:11:07 was the nine-year old event's 2nd best amateur women's clocking, second only to her own magnificent 1:09:48 set in '16, a POY-nomination-worthy effort.
Angela Kidd rounded outh the podium, which Nicole Heininger, Katherine Lenglet and Andrea Myers claiming the next three spots.
A pair of divisional record were rewritten:
40-44W - Angela Kidd - 1:14:37 (Tied Julie Hull's 2014 DR)
45-49M - Kevin O'Connor - 1:05:26 (Old Mark - Andy Clark's 1:08:37 - 2013)
Coverage of the Tinman and Long Course Du Nationals, featuring Dani Fischer and Jenn Scudiero will post tomorrow.
