Race Coverage

Training Partners Win at Green Lake...

Saturday, 18 August 2018 23:10

ED. The Lakes Area Review is based in New London, Minnesota. Their sports editor, Brett Blocker, covered last Sunday's Green Lake Triathlon, and gave us permission to repost. The results at the bottom are of Willmar area athletes.

By Brett Blocker (lakesareareview.com)

Editor

Audiences were treated to some of the finest weather the Green Lake Triathlon has had in recent memory, as Sunday’s mild 75-degree morning was a far cry from last year’s torrential downpour.

Not that the athletes would have minded of course...

As per annual tradition, by 10:30 a.m., Saulsbury Beach became an assemblage of 169 exhausted endurance athletes each, struggling to regain a baseline heart rate and body temperatures after a taxing three-sport race. Among them: two new record-setters, and one very near miss.

While this year’s top overall Olympic time went to 31-year-old Wade Cruser, of Sauk Rapids – finishing a full five minutes ahead of his closest competitor and just three seconds shy of record-holder Marcus Strummer’s 2014 time of 1:41:53 – the most impressive performance of the morning belonged to 43-year-old Becky Youngberg, of Eden Prairie....

At an official time of 1:53:57, Youngberg shattered the previous women’s Olympic record, set in 2015 by Sheena Dauer, of Montevideo, by 6 minutes, two seconds. Dauer would finish second in the 2018 Women’s Olympic bracket at a time of 2:00:03.

An equally dramatic performance, given the circumstances, was that of Kevin O’Connor’s second place overall Olympic time of 1:47:36. O’Connor, 47, of Medina, broke the previous Men’s Masters record by 14 seconds, in spite of experiencing heart anomaly issues during the race.

Top Sprint course athlete was Cruser’s training partner, Andrew Zabel, 38, of Sartell. Zabel, too, drew an impressive lead on his closest opponent. As the only athlete to cross the finish line in under an hour, Zabel clocked in at a final time of 59:43, a whopping 6.5 minutes ahead of second place competitor, James Graif, 56, of Elk River.

The fastest time in the women’s Sprint was earned by Karah Osterberg, 30, of North Aurora, IL. Oseterberg finished eighth overall at a time of 1:09:07.

For a full list of results, visit: www.pickleevents.com. Area athletes’ results are as follows:

Note: The Olympic course consists of a 3/4-mile swim, a 22-mile bike ride and a 6-mile run. The Sprint course features a 1/4-mile swim, 14-mile bike ride and 3-mile run.

Sprint course

(3) Breck Erickson, 20, Willmar, 1:06:29

(11) Ryan Stoneburner, 39, Paynesville, 1:11:52

(21) Ken Heitzman, 53, Spicer, 1:16:34

(26) Ross Swartz, 26, Willmar, 1:18:27

(27) Scott Abrams, 45, Willmar, 1:18:42

(36) Ryan Davis, 36, Willmar, 1:20:05

(47) Ryan Lange, 41, Willmar, 1:23:37

(55) Amy Morrell, 49, Spicer, 1:26:00

(56) Forrest Peterson, 69, Willmar, 1:26:09

(65) Whitney Fugleberg, 30, Willmar, 1:28:12

(86) Rick Fredin, 47, New London, 1:37:39