Race Coverage

Masters Mastery....

Saturday, 29 June 2019 23:10

GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER - In both the Sprint and supersized Olympic races yesterday, masters women ruled. The podiums in each of those hard-fought races were earned by elite ladies over the age of forty, and their performances across the board were stellar, in spite of hot and muggly conditions that convinced raced management to make the humane decision to start the event an hour earlier than advertised.

In the Olympic-plus (the bike course, by design, was 6K longer than 40K) the question was not which of the Top 2 national class masters--CATHY YNDESTAD or KORTNEY HAAG--would, weather-be-damned--lower the course record (owned by Haag), but by how much.

By reputation and resume, CY had the edge. Her career scorecard boasts at least 75 multisport wins, making her our state's all-time winningest multisportwoman. And the fact that she came into the race with at least two stellar 2019 performances--1st at Cactus Sprint (AZ), 4th at Victoria (BC) 70.3--under her belt further clarified her favored status....

Haag, on the other hand, had not raced yet this year, thus she may have had some rust that needed knocking off. Muscle memory was on her side, though. She'd raced and won on this course, albeit in conditions that were ideal.

Yndestad's lead over Haag was 3:24 after the swim. Kort was able to match her rival's bike split, then narrow the gap by 46 seconds during the run. The Maple Grove mom would better her 2017 course-record time by 2:36, a satisfying performance indeed.

Cathy, though, raced like she had did,circa 2007 - 2011, when she was a perennial nominee for US Athlete of the Year, an award she won in 2009. Her finishing time at G-Man was 2:19:18, which would be considered astonishing even in hospitable weather.

Rounding out the women's podium, unsurprisingly, was ever-consistent ANDREA MYERS, 43, the three-time Minnesota Master of the Year nominee who has won five races in the last two-and-a-half seasons. Here 2019 scorecard features two 2nds (Graniteman and Gear West Du) and three 4ths (Apple, Buffalo Olympic, Lake Minnetonka). Not too shabby, huh?

Andi's time was 2:31:15, which was better than the prior G-Man Olympic Masters record by 4:17. Off course, Yndesdad now owns the MR, in addition to the CR,

Placing fourth was a woman who appears to be a star of the future. Her name is VANESSA NAGEL. She grabbed our attention when she cracked the Top 5 at Buffalo Olympic four weekends ago. Her time yesterday was 2:31:51.

Stay tuned for coverage of the men's Olympic race, featuring several emergent elites, as well as the Graniteman Sprint.  WOMEN'S OLYMPIC RESULTS

Top Photo by Kerry Yndestad - Graniteman's Women's Olympic podium (L-R) - CATHY YNDESTAD, KORTNEY HAAG, ANDREA MYERS.