Race Coverage

Sarah, Dan & Catherine Didn't Get the Memo...

Monday, 11 July 2011 03:00

(Great photos from Kerry Yndestad's Facebook Page - L - Dan does his Nixon impression. R - Cathy tells Claire something funny.)

Race Coverage- Some days just aren't very fast. Saturday was one of those days.

In general, the times at the 10th anniversary edition of Life Time Minneapolis were slower than in past years. And it wasn't for lack of field quality or due to extremely unaccommodating weather. Sure, there was some light chop and noticeable surface current on Lake Nokomis. There was also humidity and some wind to contend with, though not nearly as troublesome as this event has had to contend with on several occasions in the past. Also, the consistent cloud cover for the majority of the morning on Saturday minimized the severity of ...

the thick and breezy conditions. Still, times, in general, were not very fast. Apparently, some days are not fast days.There's probably an astrological explanation for this.

Matty Reed was the fastest male pro in the field, winning for the third straight year. A truly remarkable feat. His time was 1:50:10, which was as slowest winning time in the event's history. He was pushed hard by eventual podium-mates Andy Potts (1:50:23) and Greg Bennett (1:50:53) and the race's Equalizer format provided additional incentive to keep the pedal on the floor.

And make no mistake, these guys were red-lining the whole way. There was no backing off. That was evident on their faces and in their sinew.

Apparently, Saturday was one of those generally unfast days.

All but the winning times in the women's pro contest, and the men's and women's Elite Amateur races seemed slower than in most prior years here. The amazing Sarah Haskins, the woman who immediately established herself as America's premier short distance triathlete when Barb Lindquist retired in 2005, was VERY fast on Saturday. Her 1:59:58 was the fastest time ever by an American woman on this course and third on the All Time list behind Australians Lorretta Harrop (her 1:57:58 in 2004 was one of the greatest performances in the history of Olympic distance racing!) and Emma Snowsill (1:58:04 in 2008). Moreover, her margin of victory over runner-up/BFF Alicia Kaye, who has truly emerged as a star in 2011, was a corpulent 3:25; by far the widest disparity by either gender ever at this great event.

Like Reed, Haskins has won the last three editions of this annual classic. Also, the margin between her and Matty was only 9:48 (the Equalizer was 10:43; note that the margin between male and female runners-up was 12:00). On only one other occasion (2004) has the margin between the fastest man and woman been less than 10 minutes.

You rock, Sarah!

Once again, the times were generally slower on Saturday than in the past, but Sarah Haskins, who has won all three of the Toyota Cup races she's entered this season, didn't get the memo.

Neither did St. Paul's Dan Hedgecock and New Englander, Catherine Sterling (photo above). Both lived up to their favorite status, and both set amateur course records. Hedgecock, his victory was his seventh straight this season, turned in a 1:56:28; a 39 second improvement on Adam Webber's 2008 CR. Dan and Adam, who is a cop in Denver, Pennsylvania, will face each other at Nationals next month. Many believe that these guys who will take two of the three podium spots in Burlington (VT).

We won't argue with that.

As impressive at his time at Minneapolis was Hedgecock's margin of victory, an unprecedented 4:23. Whoa!

Our data shows that Sterling is undefeated (against fellow amateurs) thus far in 2011 and her victory margins have been panoramic. Her 2:10:52 here, which was 35 seconds better than the previous course best, on an otherwise unfast day was nothing short of awesome, as was the gulf between herself and runner-up Cathy Yndestad: 3:58! To Cathy's credit, however, her performance under the circumstances was brilliant and demonstrated that the woman who has won this race five times, recorded 48 career victories, is a two-time 30-34 national champion, is a former US Athlete of the Year and Minnesota Athlete of the Decade, is back. Maybe not all the way back, but almost there.

In keeping with the general trend, the winning times in the Olympic citizens race and the sprint were not as brisk as we've seen here in the past, though St. Cloud's Greta Danielson, 18, certainly took on step closer to a Junior of the Year nomination with her sweet victory in the sprint.

It needs to be made clear that races don't have to be fast to be excellent. This truth has been demonstrated on countless occasions, and was never more apparent than on Saturday at Lake Nokomis. RACE RESULTS

ED. Special thanks and congratulations on a job well done to the race organizers and their 1000+ volunteers.