Race Coverage

Fog & Bittersweetness...

Tuesday, 19 September 2023 00:10

ONE LAST TRI COVERAGE - Bittersweet. The final tri of the season. This year's OLT Olympic and Sprint participants, 256 of whom crossed the finish line, were greeted with fog and coolish temps. We know that much. We weren't there, but it's fun to analyze results. Here's what we think happened, starting with the Olympic race. Two of our state's fastest guys, actually our state's hands-down fastest guy, PRESTON YOUNGDAHL and perennial podium finisher SAMUEL HAUCK separated themselves from the rest of the field shortly after the start. They swam fast, them Dr. Sam started cranking out 25+ mphs on his bike. Youngdahl started to crank his signature 27+ mphs, but somewhere along the line something went terribly wrong for Preston. He was passed by gaggles of triathletes and would have to run his way into the Top 5.

Meanwhile Hauck, who won this race convincingly --by 9:12--in 2018 in a brisk 1:58:09, was even faster and his margin convincinger than last time. He finished in 1:56:13, and had 18:09 to recover and rehydrate before the runner-up officialized his performance...

For the women, two Wisconsinites, an Iowan and a North Dakotan took the Top 4 spots. It's so cool when Minnesoata races draw border-staters.

A pair of young men who we suspect are UW-Madison Tri Team members went 1-2 in the Sprint. Our research on winner TYLER STOLL, a Minneapolis guy attending UW, suggests that his win at OLT SPrint was a breakout effort. We love to see that kind of stuff. His time was good--1:01:47--, his marginof victory was 59-seconds thanks almost exclusively to his fast 5K close (Tyler has very a good road racing resume.)

Winning for the women and placing 3rd overall was DIANE HANKEE, who had been victorious here a time or two before. Her time was very good - 1:06:04 - and only slightly off her victorious 1:05:29 from 2015, when she was 36. Our best guess, is that she rather substantially lowered the women's Masters record.

Like Sam Hauck in the OLT Olympic, Diane enjoyed a double-digit margin of victory.  RESULTS

Tthough the final Minnesota triathlon for 2023 is in the books, there is one more multsport race to consider. The season finale FALL CLASSIC DUATHLON is slated for October 8. Go to mmraces.com to learn more.

ED. You're right. The photo is from Square Lake.( We don't have a OLT photo.) We posted this shot 'cuz it is awesome.