Race Coverage

July 8 Racing Highlights...

Monday, 10 July 2017 09:10

Awesome Photo by - Minneapolis Tri / Athlinks.com

MINNEAPOLIS TRIATHLON XVI - Breakout efforts highlighted last Saturday's Minneapolis Tri at Lake Nokomis. For the women, GABY BUNTEN turned in a victorious effort that will almost surely be nominated for Performance of the Year. Her remarkable 2:08:34 was a three-minute Olympic-distance PR and the 3rd fastest amateur women's time in the fourteen year history of the race. (Gaby is undefeated in three starts this season.)

Check out the stats: 

Minneapolis Tri - Sub-2:10 women:

1. HEATHER LENDWAY - 2:06:21 (2014) - HL got her pro license in 2015

2. ALISSA DOEHLA (NC) - 2:08:07 (2016) - AD got her pro license earlier this year.

3. GABY BUNTEN - 2:08:34 (2017)

4. DANIELLE DINGMAN (MO) - 2:09:31 (2017) - DD has won TWO National Championship duathlons this year (Long Course and Standard Course), and blew the Minneapolis field away on the bike and run, but Gaby rocked a 19:33 swim and never looked back....

Other Minnesota women who turned in impressive efforts were HANNA GRINAKER, who lost her chip in the swim but charged on to a 2:10, after which she self-deeked ( Good story. Noble stuff!), and JULIA WEISBECKER, who significantly lowered her own 50-54W record (from 2:23:24 to 2:21:08) and finished 7th overall. Looks like another MOY nomination will be coming her way.

Now for the guys. The race was won by Iowan EVAN CULBERT, 23, who truly had a breakout day. His prior results did not suggest that he was ready to lower the amateur CR at Minneapolis, but that's exactly what he did. (Love to see the quantum leapers in action, don't you?) In the process, Evan managed to hold off SEAN COOLEY, who turned in the 2nd fastest men's EA time ever in this race.

Check out the all-time men's amateur Top 3:

1. EVAN CULBERT (IA) - 1:55:05 (2017)

2. SEAN COOLEY - 1:55:29 (2017)

3. DAN HEDGECOCK - 1:56:10 (2012)

Also rocking socks in the men's cometition was DAVID HOLDEN, 48, who took the masters record down from 2:02 to 2:00:14. He placed 5th overall.

In an earlier post we predicted the women's AG winners in the Minneapolis Sprint race. We are happy to say that most of our picks were right-on, i.e. JENNIFER FITZHARRIS-FUNK did win the 40-44W category, LAURA SWARTZ did prevail for 50-54W, RHIANNON O'CONNOR claimed the AG crown among 60-64  women, and LISA WHEELER was victorious in the 65-69W AG.

FYI, LANCE LEO won the men's sprint by a substantial margin, while KATHERINE LENGLET's margin of victory was much tighter (25-seconds).  Approximately 1300 athletes finished this year's races.  RESULTS

GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER - Highlights included KORTNEY HAAG's course record 2:24:40 in the bike-heavy Olympic race. The win was the 19th of Kort's career. They also featured SARA CARLSON's win, the first of her multisport career, in the G-Man Sprint. She (photo R) shared the Winner's Circle with BRIAN SORHAUG, whose victory may also be the first of his tri career.

Love to see new winners!

Joining Kortney on the Top Step in the Olympic race was ANDY ZABEL. The win was the 4th of his multisport career.  RESULTS

ELYSIAN TRIATHLON - Sixty-three athletes finished this year's race in Minnesota's Lakes Country. Leading the way for the men was BRETT LOVAAS, who according to our records, has won 31 triathlons since relocating from Wisconsin to Minnesota in 1997. The women's champ was KATIE DEREGNIER, who was also  impressive at Liberty Olympic last month, where she placed 4th in the women's competition. RESULTS

MUNCIE 70.3 - This race, the oldest long course tri in the continental United States, was won in runaway fashion by honorary Minnesotan DANI FISCHER. Her superb 4:26:11 outdistanced her runner-up by 7:54.

Finishing 10th overall in the women's race was MTN's June Athlete of the Month NICOLE HEININGER, whose 4:45:54 was a personal best at the half IM distance.  RESULTS