Race Coverage
A Great Race "Broke Out"....
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Sunday, 16 August 2020 23:10
GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER COVERAGE - Men's Race - Sunday was a great day for racing, and sure enough, a great race, as the late Rodney Dangerfield might have said, "broke out."
It happened in the scenic rural environs west of bucolic Clearwater, thus it's name: Graniteman Clearwater.
It's amazing to us that even when a race unfolds as you might expect it to, it is still exciting as heck to witness.
The predicted winners prevailed in both the overall and most of the age group competitions, but it was still thrilling to watch. That's triathlon. It's cool people doing extraordinary things is tight clothing.
Sophomore pro TED TREISE understands that his main job right now is to prove that he deserves his license, which in the early stages entails that he not allow elite amateurs to beat him. He also knows that it is especially hard to accomplish that in Minnesota, where the top amateurs are among the best in the country. Beating 2019 Most Improved winner JOSH MORK, current Most Improved frontrunner JOE ADRIAENS, and North Dakota's fastest rising male star, AJ MANNING, meant that he couldn't cruise.
The hammer needed to be down from lake to banner....
Family-Style Winning...
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Friday, 14 August 2020 23:10
YOUNGLIFE SPRINT COVERAGE - Favorites prevailed at the 17th edition of this annual sprint classic this moorning. Husband and wife team BRANDEN SCHEEL and ALEXA STALLWORTH racked up impressive wins, Branden outsplitting the men's field in both the bike and run, Stallworth leading from the get-go with a fast swim. ...
Favorites Prevail at Green Lake...Updated...
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Monday, 10 August 2020 23:10
GREEN LAKE TRIATHLON COVERAGE - The 17th and 14th editions of this terrific sprint and Olympic-ish event took place in the lull between two rainstorms, the first drenching the set-up crew, the second drenching them again, and the dry t-shirts they donned after the first downpour, as they broke down the venue. Hopkin's Tri race director / organizer of COVID Zooms dedicated to making a 2020 racing season, in some form, happen, DOOBIE KURUS had this to say after the event: ...
Normalcy & Supportiveness...
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Thursday, 06 August 2020 23:10
By Steven Wert
Big Lake Sprint Race Report - 2020 has been anything, but normal. On Saturday, August 1st though, some normalcy was brought back to triathletes and spectators at the Graniteman Big Lake Triathlon.
You couldn’t ask for a better day to kick off the 2020 Triathlon Season. Perfect temperature, no wind, and sunny skies made the day perfect. The nerves that I had coming into the race quickly went away seeing the excitement in everyone to race again and just the sense of normalcy again.
The Swim: Two and a half months of no pool access, for someone who just really picked up swimming last year, was not good, but Saturday at Big Lake things started to feel good again. Maybe it was just being in the competitive environment, but my swim felt strong once again....
Youth Rocks at Big Lake...
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Monday, 03 August 2020 23:10
GRANITEMAN BIG LAKE SPRINT COVERAGE- We are so glad that JENNA HORNER's career path led her back to her ancestral Minnesota. As fans of her growth in the sport of triathlon, we wondered if we'd ever get to watch, in person, her do what she was destined to do: win triathlons.
Well, the 22-year-old George Washington University graduate kicked off her 2020 racing season with her first win on home soil at Big Lake last Saturday. It's wasn't easy, but she, and we, knew that it wouldn't be. Expected to breathe down her neck were junior phenom ISABELLA BUENTING (photo below) and 2019 Rookie of the Year runner-up CARYN HERRICK, and they did just that. Bella and Caryn enjoyed one-minute-plus advantages out of the water, making Horner need to turn up the heat on the bike.
She did, and effectively closed the swim gap. The run is her strong suit, but that didn't make her feel secure. Buenting launched before she did, and would have the honor of finishing ahead of all the other women.
She didn't hold her clubhouse lead for long, though. Jenna finished shortly after her to claim a 30-second victory. Both women had the pedal all the way to the floor when they entered the park for the final push to the finish. It was thrilling to behold.
Herrick needed another minute to make her bronze medal effort official....
Opening Day!
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Saturday, 01 August 2020 23:10
GRANITEMAN BIG LAKE SPRINT - JOSH MORK is a "mustache guy," though he hasn't truly settled on his style preference yet. He sported the Yosemite Sam look for a while, but had recently traded that in for the Snidely Whiplash look, though only after giving serious consideration to Handlebar and Walrus options.
Snidely Mork is also a humble guy. He demonstrated that humility yesterday at Big Lake Sprint after he won the race, the seventh of his meteoric tri career. He admitted that his victory may have been helped by the misfortune of his good friend DAVID KOPPEL, who was hit, but not injured, unlike his bike, by a motorcyle. Josh said that he believed that David would have picked up his first career tri victory had the accident not occurred.
Fourth placer JOE ADRIAENS was also in position to, perhaps, claim his first tri win, or at least turn the battle for the Top Step into a down-to-the-wire, three man affair with Mork and Koppel, but a wrong turn on the bike course added extra time-sucking distance to his effort. Nevertheless, Joe finished less than a minute behind the official winner. It was a brilliant performance, one that clearly demonstrated that Joe, like David, is ready to win races and rank in the upper echelons of his peers....
