Race Coverage

Revealing Stuff...

Sunday, 21 July 2019 23:10

34th HEART OF THE LAKES TRIATHLON - Our state's oldest events, that is, those that have been around since the formative years of the sport, and have survived the recent, and unfortunately protracted, enrollment slump, are our best events. *

We're talking about the Apple Duathlon, Timberman, Brewhouse and Heart of the Lakes.

Apple is arguably our country's premier run, bike, run. Timberman and Brewhouse are true "destination" races.

And Heart of the Lakes, in our opinion, is the event with the biggest heart.

When they arrive at the venue, participants immediately feel a special sense of "friendliness" in the air.

Small-town pride and genuine human warmth is palpable. 

HOLT is not only soul-nourishing, it is also one of our region's most competitive events, and this year's race was not only exciting, it was extremely revealing.

Revealing?

Yup. It revealed, for instance, that PATRICK PARISH is clearly the 2019 Triathlete of the Year male frontrunner. And we are not only talking about the Minnesota TOY honor. He's as formidable as any elite amateur man in the US right now, and we'd be disappointed if USAT overlooked him when determing their Athletes of the Year nominees....

A glance at HOLT's results sheet intially suggests that JOSH BLANKENHEIM, who was coming off a very fast victory at Timberman, gave Patrick a good race, as only 28 seconds separated those guys when the dust settled.

A closer look paints a different picture. After Patrick grabbed the lead on the bike, he obeyed some shouted directions that were intended for a vehicle. He turned left. He zigged when neither zigging or zapping were called for. Extra distance, therefore,--we are anxious to know how much--was added to his ride.

Still, he arrived in T2 only a dozen seconds behind the leader, JOSH MORK (photo R with Josh Blankenheim).

A superior runner, Parish was, as they say, in the driver's seat. His 4th HOLT win seemed to be in the bag. A solid run, not a balls-to-the-wall effort, was all he needed to secure the W, which was probaly welcome news. Parish needed to save some strength and speed for a bike race later in the day.

The victory was, according to our records, the 40th of his multisport career, and his 5th in eight starts this season.

Mork, who appears to be cruising for yet another Most Improved nomination at season's end, ran hard and turned in a solid split, but it wouldn't be enough to secure second place. As noted earlier, Josh Blankenheim would earn that spot, doing so thanks to the fastest run (29:28 / 5:33-pace) of the day. Blankenheim has podiumed in three of the four tris he's done thus far in 2019.

Perennial Minnesota Master of the Year KEVIN O'CONNOR, 48, finished 4th, twenty-two seconds after Mork.

There were lots of revealing performances in the women's long course race, too. CHRISTINA ROBERTS came into the race as her gender's favorite. Then she posted the fastest women's splits in all three disciplines. The result was a runaway win, her second in four starts this season, and 24th of her career. What did this effort reveal? That she will likely be nominated for Minnesota Triathlete of the Year again.

This was Roberts' 3rd HOLT Victory (2019, 2017, 2015).

Arriving in T2 in 4th place, DIANE HANKEE knew that catching Roberts wasn't going to happen, but a podium, perhaps even a 2nd was possible, that is, if yesterday's performance at Bertram Blast (Offical 3rd place at BB, though she ran long. Had her time been adjusted, she would have won.) hadn't zapped her legs.

Her legs were unzapped, and she moved all the way up to 2nd, her third such placing here to go with a win in 2013. Anything revealed here? Yes. In the year of the Masters woman in Minnesota--Becky Youngberg, Cathy Yndestad, Cheryl Zitur, Kortney Haag, Elaine Nelson, Andrea Myers, Sara Rondorf etc.--Diane, 42, will likely earn one of the nominations.

Third across the finish line at HOLT was KRISTINA SWENSON, though she could only savor her "podium" until the results were posted. A Wave 5 athlete, a rookie no less, would turn a performance that was actually the third fastest women's clocking of the day. Her name is CARYN HERRICK (top photo).

Anything revealing here? Sure. Though Swenson placed 4th, her effort was strong enough that when combined with her 2nds at Buffalo Sprint and Ame's Triathlon, plus her 5th at Lake Minnetonka, puts her squarely on the Most Improved radar.

As for Herrick, whose other performance this year produced at 4th place finish (4:57) at High Cliff Half IM, she is clearly the co frontrunner with PAIGE SCHULZ for Rookie of the Year. She will face Paige next weekend at Chisago. We''re anxious to see how that battle shakes out.

Unlike the tropical conditions last Friday, followed by rain and temps that were 30+ degrees cooler on Saturday, Sunday's weather in Annandale was ideal for racing. Light wind with temps in the high 60s. These accommodating conditions may have partly explained the fact that four Age Group records were rewritten, all of them by mature members of the field:

60-64M - TONY SCHILLER - 1:49:02 (Previous - Tony's 1:40:24 in 2018)

65-69M - LEONARD KLUN - 1:55:27 (Previous - Ben Ewers' 1:57:35 in 2011)

65-69W - PAM STEVENS - 2:04:57 (Previous - Lisa Wheeler's 2:26:34 in 2016)

70-74M - THOMAS ROHMAN - 2:06:05 (Previous - Thomas Rohman - 2:12:59 in 2018)

Each of these athletes are likley Grand Master of the Year nominees.

Coverage of the Heart of the Lakes Sprint, which also had lots of revelatory stuff, will post soon. RESULTS

ED. We just received this email from Josh Mork. It's good stuff!

Just wanted to fill you in on a couple details related to HOTL.
 
Mork uniform malfunction: my swimskin zipper got jammed and it wouldn’t budge in T1. I tried pulling the cord up and down, many times over while running through transition. Once I got to my bike I repeated the process many more times but there was fabric caught in the zipper and it wouldn’t move. By this point a number of other athletes got to their bikes and rode away.
 
O’Connor wins the sportsmanship award: Kevin noticed me struggling and without hesitation, stopped and quickly resolved the problem, allowing me to stay in the race. I wasn’t expecting him, or anyone, to help since I need to be responsible for my own gear but I’m very thankful he did. That act likely cost him a podium finish since I would have continued to struggle. This is just another example of why I’ve got huge respect/admiration for Kevin. Overall good dude! Hopefully I can return the gesture in the future.
 
Besides that, great day to race!

* We believe that several younger races - Chisago, Lake Minnetonka, Trinona, Maple Grove to name just a few--will stand the test of time, and will in a decade or two be revered in much the same way that Apple, Timberman, Brewhouse and Heart of the Lakes are now.