Race Coverage
Another Big Win For Parish! Teens Rock in the Sprint!
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Sunday, 14 July 2019 23:10
MINNEAPOLIS OLYMPIC - The "on paper" men's podium favorites lived up to their status last Saturday. What was less clear was who would would win. Madison, Wisconsin's VANT LAMMERS had beaten Minneapolis' PATRICK PARISH (and everyone else) at Pigman Sprint six weeks ago, but Parish was not at his best that day. And since then, Patrick, Minnesota's Athlete of the Month in April/May and June, has been dominant on the regional scene.
We were excited about the Lammers / Parish rematch.
The other podium favorite was JOSH MORK, who was coming off a win at Graniteman Clearwater, and a 2nd (to Parish) at Lake Minnetonka. His M.O. is grab a lead in the swim, hammer the bike and hope that his pursuers aren't former collegiate runners.
Lammers and Parish are former collegiate runners.
Mork hit T2 with an almost two-minute lead on Patrick, and was 2:40ish in front of Vant....
A+ Stuff!...UPDATED!
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Saturday, 13 July 2019 23:20
MINNEAPOLIS OLYMPIC - The battle for the women's Top Step promised to be epic, even though 2017 champ / 2018 runner-up GABY BUNTEN was not in the elite lineup. Could newly returned CATHY YNDESTAD, now 40, give defending champ HANNA GRINAKER a run for her money?
CY came into the race with the taste of a course record victory lingering on her palate. She also had a ton of stored Minneapolis Tri memory in her muscle fibers, facts that Grinaker, who has all the repect in the universe for Yndestad, was painfully aware of. Just an "A Game" effort wasn't going to get it done. She needed her "A+" stuff.
(Interestingly, when Cathy applied for the Elite Wave, the SEVEN-TIME Minneapolis Tri champion had to provide proof that she was worthy, i.e. proof of having broken 2:30 at the 32-mile distance. In fairness to LTF, there had been a lot of staff turnover since 2014, the date of Cathy's last appearance.
As expected, CY gapped HG in the swim. She hoped her 2:13 edge would keep her adversary in the rearview mirror as long as possible. Perhaps Hanna would work too hard to catch up, then falter in the run. A fresh Hanna, a former collegiate runner, would be too much to handle in phase three otherwise....
"My Legs Felt Like Noodles."...
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Saturday, 13 July 2019 12:00
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By Simone Lundquist (sisterswhotriblog.com)
Buffalo Sprint Race Report - After what seemed like an eternity, the triathlon season has finally begun! The busy off season sports and even busier school year seemed to take up all of my time and energy. It became difficult to find the time to even think about triathlons let alone finding the time to properly train for them. Although it was frustrating at times not being able to find the time to train the way I would have liked to, it was still a wonderful year with many accomplishments and happy memories.
The week before the Buffalo Triathlon I almost forgot that I would be competing. All of my time and focus had been on my track team as we were approaching sections that same weekend. As much as I wanted to work hard and focus on my first triathlon of the season, I knew that I had made a commitment to my team and my focus would have to be on our track meet. It all paid off because on Saturday I got to see my 4×800 team win our section race and qualify for the state championship. The celebrating was short lived as my family had to go home and get some sleep for the early morning ahead of us....
Shelper & Keppers...
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Monday, 08 July 2019 23:10
TIMBERMAN SPRINT - This race, like Timberman Olympic, has an extremely loyal following. As we study the bios of th 2019 entrants, we see that so many of them have done this event five-or-more times. As a result, we expect a gaggle of recidivists to claim the overall and age group podiums.
The battle for the men's victory should be between seven-time T-Man Sprint winner ADAM HIMES, and reigning champ / course record holder JOHN SHELP. The 2018 race was Shelper's first sprint effort here, though he came into the race with an impressive Timberman Olympic resume, which boasted six Top 5 finishes, including 2nd places in 2011 and 2010. His career tri record is more extensive than Himes'.
Advantage on Saturday goes to Shelp.
The women's race features lots of usual suspects. TARA MAKINEN is one of them. She won this race four times, and podiumed on three other occasions.
Another returnee is JENA OGSTON, who won here in 2015, and has six other Top 3 finishes....
Timberman Turns 35!
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Monday, 08 July 2019 12:00
Photo by Matt Fulton - Hanging out on the bluff after the 2015 Timberman. L - R - Rembrandt Kandiko, Bob Powers, 90 (!), Tommie C. and Tiffany Kari, who is a HOOT!
35th TIMBERMAN OLYMPIC TRIATHLON - We were bummed when we learned that CHRISTINA ROBERTS, winner here the last three years, will be unable to return.
Then we learned that there's a very strong possibility that BECKY YOUNGBERG, winner here in 2011 and 2004, will make the trek up to Sugar Lake Lodge for next Saturday's race. She's raced five times this season, winning twice, setting Masters records each time. HHer lowest finish was a 3rd at Madison 70.3 behind DANI FISCHER and GABY BUNTEN.
Then perennial Team MInnesotan NICOLE HEININGER let us know that she plans to make her Timberman debut next weekend.
Adding Nicole's and Becky's names to the women's start list that already features three-time Master of the Year CHERYL ZITUR, who like Heininger, is a first-time Timber-person, and three-time Master of the Year nominee / four-time Timberman runner-up / Timberman masters record holder ANDREA MYERS, means that the 2019 T-Man Olympic women's race will be among its most competitive ever.
But wait, there's more! Bemidjians CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN, like Myers, a three-time MOY nominee, and JESSIE MAHER are also in the field. Christel has cracked the Top 5 here twice, and Maher is coming off her first career tri win at Perham...
Branden & Jessie....
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Thursday, 04 July 2019 23:10
PERHAM TRIATHLON - The 16th edition of this event happened last Saturday. Ninety-nine athletes crossed the finish line.
The men's race featured the return of Fargo's BRANDEN SCHEEL, who is living and training in Tucson these days. As expected he won the race, his third consecutive W here. Also predictable was his substantial margin of victory: 4:50.
While Scheel's win was forgone, the women's race was won by a true darkhorse, an athlete who had yet to win a race. Her name is JESSIE MAHER (photo). She's a 35-year-old Bemidjian, who trains with three-time MInnesota Master of the Year nominee, and no stranger to winners circles, CHRISTEL KIPPENHAN.
Jessie's previous best placing was a 5th here in 2018. Her time was 1:23:51.
She kicked off the 2019 season with a surprising 8th place finish against a very deep women's field at Lake Minnetonka. It was obvious that she'd gone to the next level. But was she ready to win? ...
