Race Coverage

Brian & Heiney Prevail at Oakdale...

Saturday, 13 May 2017 05:10

Photo - Men's podium (R-L): Kris Spoth, Brian Sames, Jordan Roby.

OAKDALE DUATHLON - Racing conditions were ideal yesterday at Lake Elmo Park Reserve. Sunny, with a cloudless sky and light breezes. The temp at the start was 60, climbing only to 66 by the time the last finisher crossed the line.

Simply put: Saturday was a "great day to be alive and outdoors."

From a competitive standpoint is was a great day for all except the early leaders, both of whom were favored to win. WADE CRUSER was on record pace when he flatted eight miles into the bike leg. SUZIE FOX's instincts got in the way during the bike leg, resulting in a quickly corrected wrong turn, then missing a turnaround, which she also corrected in short order. (FYI - This year's courses were tweaked.) When she got back on track, though, she flatted. By that time NICOLE HEININGER, was leading and had the pedal to the floor....

Nicole would stay well out in front the rest of the way. Her milestone 10th career victory featured a brisk 1:12:21, giving her 6:42 to recover before KATHERINE LENGLET, a really cool young lady, officialized her runner-up status. Illinois transplant and totally cool person, TORI NUGENT, a Top 5 finisher at Falls a few weeks back, filled out the women's podium.

With Cruser out of the picture, the battle for first was between du vet BRIAN SAMES and du rookie KRIS SPOTH. In the end, experience prevailed, but not by much. Sames' margin of victory was only 16 seconds.

We hope that Spoth, and his sherpa Gaby, went out to lunch to celebrate his successful debut.

In case you were wondering, Brian's time--1:01:59--was one of the five fastest clockings in race history. The win was the 16th of his young career. Five of those victories have been in run-bike-run competitions.

JORDAN ROBY grabbed the final men's podium spot, giving him two Top 3s in two multi starts this season. He placed 2nd at Falls back on April 29.