Race Coverage

Branden & Jessie....

Thursday, 04 July 2019 23:10

PERHAM TRIATHLON - The 16th edition of this event happened last Saturday. Ninety-nine athletes crossed the finish line.

The men's race featured the return of Fargo's BRANDEN SCHEEL, who is living and training in Tucson these days. As expected he won the race, his third consecutive W here. Also predictable was his substantial margin of victory: 4:50.

While Scheel's win was forgone, the women's race was won by a true darkhorse, an athlete who had yet to win a race. Her name is JESSIE MAHER (photo). She's a 35-year-old Bemidjian, who trains with three-time MInnesota Master of the Year nominee, and no stranger to winners circles, CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN.  

Jessie's previous best placing was a 5th here in 2018. Her time was 1:23:51.

She kicked off the 2019 season with a surprising 8th place finish against a very deep women's field at Lake Minnetonka. It was obvious that she'd gone to the next level. But was she ready to win? ...

Apparently so. Her time at Perham last weekend was 1:12:45, more than 11 minutes better than last year. Not only that, it landed her in 4th place overall, one spot in front of women's runner-up KELLY HELTEMES, arguably the pre-race women's favorite. Kelly is a past winner at Young Life Sprint and Hoot Lake....RESULTS

Inuagural AMES TRIATHLON - MTN congratulates Rochester's Kiwi triathlete / tri coach BRAD MITCHELL on his victory, which we believe is the first of his career. Well done, mate! We also applaud KRISTINA SWENSON and GRETA (DANIELSON) KOPPY for their podium finishes behind Iowan JOY CARROLL, whose 2018 scorecard featured at least two wins.