Race Coverage

Leaving It All On The Course...

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 03:20

ED. Heidi Keller-Miler is racing like a banshee this year. Two big wins, a 2nd and a 3rd so far. She is also an "Old Schooler," who loves slobbery aggressive racing and doesn't mind losing when it is clear that she and her adversaries have, as they say, left it all on the course. She loves to push the red line and all the grunting and gasping and distended veins that goes with it. It was this aggressive style of racing that defined what unfolded at the front of the women's pack on Sunday at Lake Waconia XXII. The photos of Becky Youngberg and Michelle Andres were generously provided by Nick of TriJuice.com.

A Race to Remember...

By Heidi Keller-Miler

Unfortunately there normally aren't a whole lot of women racing in the elite wave so it was really a blast to be part of the best & biggest field of the year thus far in 2011. There were 19 women in the elite division at LWT. That is one more than the men had toeing the line, that has to be a first! So it was quite a raucous start with all 37 of us heading out in the same wave. The swim start...

can get a bit rough at times but this one went pretty smooth and once things sorted out there was quite a paceline heading out to that first turn buoy.

Scoping out the swim beforehand I thought it looked short, glad that proved to be wrong and it was maybe a tad long. I came out of the water with Dan H , Props to him for swimming a straight line, something some of the other guys should learn to do Smile

At a normal race all of the women kind of know each others strengths and weaknesses so races often go as planned and there isn't a whole lot of back and forth racing. Kate Lowery and Stephanie Solfelt crushed the swim. As a swimmer myself I normally start in the lead and work my way backwards, today was fun to have some racers in the sights to try to catch. I took the lead at mile 5 and held it til 15, Suzie came flying by, I was really excited for her and knew she was having a really good race. Her swim has improved dramatically, she is now going to be a force to reckon with riding 23 MPH like she does! She hollered some moral support my way as she flew by, I only hoped to keep her within my view by the time we hit t2. Julia came flying by near the hwy 5 turn, thankfully we were near the finish of the bike at that point. Heading off into the run I was going all out, not my favorite thing to do as I more of an" ease myself" into the run type of runner but I knew Suzie wasn't going to give an inch so I better get after it. Not to mention some of the best runners in our MN scene were chasing. All out up the hill got me closer and I managed to sneak past her at the first mile mark/water stop. Coming down to the halfway turn I wasn't sure what was going on behind me. What was going on was quite a race with 5-8 women all stretched out coming down the hill. It was exciting to see that many women so close together. Well kind of as I wish they weren't SO close to me but it did make for a really interesting race. Becky Youngberg passed me up the hill after the turnaround, she looked smooth and easy. I was actually a bit surprised to see her so far up front but was thrilled to see her returning to form after a few years off. Becky is down to earth, and as nice as they come. So I kept my focus on Becky just to hold off the others as long as possible, I didn't have any delusions about holding off Michelle Andres as I have seen her run splits, she passed me with 1/2 mile or so to go into the finish. All in all it was really racing at it's best Big shout out to the LWT staff, Marvin and Tom for the great job with the race! Countless volunteers and also the best marked course I have been on to date this year. - HKM (Photo L)