Race Coverage
The "Certs" of Special Events...
-
Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:10
GEAR WEST DUATHLON - In the 60s and 70s , pre Tic-Tacs, Certs had a popular and successful advertising campaign in which one impossibly good-looking person stridently asserted to another impossibly good-looking person, "It's a breath mint!" The other good-looking person then argued, "It's a candy mint!" Then an unseen announcer halted the argument, claiming: "It's two, two, two mints in one." Visually punctuating the two-two-twos were two rolls of Certs smacking together....
"I Became Stronger"....
-
Thursday, 20 June 2019 23:10
By Erin Ladendorf
"It never gets easier, you just get faster...."
IRONMAN MADISON 70.3 (NOT A) RACE REPORT - Thank you Greg LeMond for that amazing quote. And thank you to coach Mike for reminding me of it post race. Because I have never actually felt those words truer than when I raced Ironman 70.3 Madison this last weekend.
I have been racing for going on 6 years. And every single year I am a better athlete than the year before in one way or another. Some year its speed. Other years its mental toughness. Other years it's just learning how to race and maintain my sanity. 2019 is another year of monumental gains for me in several areas of my racing. I am part of an incredible team of people on the Elite Wattie Ink team for starters. And knowing that group for the last year has given me more inspiration than I have had in the last 6 years combined....
Holden Wins Again! Sortland Surprises!
-
Tuesday, 18 June 2019 23:10
Photo - Talented teens Natasha Sortland and Noah Billings.
FAIRMONT TRIATHLON - Since 2013, DAVID HOLDEN has won at least 10 multisport races. During this period he had been nominated for Master of the Year several times. And 30% of those wins had been at Fairmont, with another three Ws recorded there between 2007 and 2012. Holden's only non-win at the FT was a close 2nd behind talented tri-rookie TOBY HENKELS in 2015. Only seven seconds separated those men.
And yes, Holden, now 50, won the Fairmont Olympic race last Saturday. His margin-of-victory was substantial--3:42--though not as thick as in most years. And his time was a very solid 2:04:45.
Placing 2nd was South Dakota teen LIAM REESE, with 3rd going to North Mankato's KYLE KRAUSE, whose 2:12:27 was eight-and-a-half minutes faster than his runner-up time here in 2018.
Mankato's JULIE BUSCH, 45, winner of Fairmont's Sprint race in 2018, and Olympic runner-up here in 2017, led the women's field. Lakeville's JESSIE MEYER claimed the silver, with Sioux Falls' KAMMIE PETERSON filling out the women's podium....
Drama & Big Trophies...
-
Sunday, 16 June 2019 23:10
LAKE MINNETONKA TRIATHLON - Fifty weeks ago, JOSH MORK sped out of T2 in first place at the Lake Waconia Triathlon. He was facing what was certainly the deepest men's field of the season, and though he was recognized as possessing "elite" credentials, it certainly appeared that he was, as they say, "in way over his head." The guys he was facing--PARISH, O'CONNOR, CRUSER, TREISE, BLANKENHEIM, ADRIAENS et al--were men he'd never beaten before....
Eight AG Records Fall at Lake Minnetonka!
-
Saturday, 15 June 2019 23:10
LAKE MINNETONKA TRIATHON COVERAGE - TOM COUILLARD, a newcomer to "Level 7," set a new 70-74M age group record yesterday at the 16th edition of this classic event. On Facebook, he succinctly, yet eloquently, described the race:
The Lake Minnetonka Triathlon does not go small on trophies for age-group winners. Like the lake itself, this race offers big challenges on a nasty weather day on the big water ... choppy waves in the half mile swim; never-ending hills and headwinds on the 15-mile bike; and nothing but rain, mud, muck and misery on the 3-mile run. Fun race!
Those last two words, especially, summed up the experience, not only for Tom, but for the other 466 participants who crossed LMT's mud-bog finish line.
In case you didn't know, Couillard, aka "The Pride of White Bear Lake," is a HOOT! He also shaved seven minutes off his AG's record. Here are the other AG records that were rewritten yesterday:
- 00-19 BOYS - KYLE SWENSON - 1:10:43 - Kyle, who also rocked an AG record at Buffalo Sprint, lowered a MICHAEL WILLIAMS (three-time Minnesota Junior of the Year!) record that has stood since 2006 (!) by 2:06....
"...Filled With Nostalgia"....
-
Wednesday, 12 June 2019 23:10
Back to my Roots....
By Jacob Braaten
TINONA RACE REPORT - Technically speaking, the 2009 Minnewaska Triathlon was my first tri. It came a month before I started my junior year of high school, on a bike I had gotten three weeks before the race. I spent the whole ride in the little chain ring because, quite frankly, I was too dumb to know how bikes worked. I don’t count this as the start of my triathlon career because it is not the race that hooked me.
The race that got me hooked was the 2012 Trinona. In late April of my first year of college, my dad called me and said, “Your brother and I are doing this race. I am signing you up for the Olympic Distance.” And that was that. I did laps in the pool for the first time the next day. Those first few attempts, I couldn’t get more than 3 or 4 lengths before I had to stop. I kept hammering away and made it to the start line knowing that I could swim the distance because I had done 1500 yards straight through with open turns (YIKES!).
It turned out that first race was a blast! One of those days where everything went to plan, and I passed my brother on the way to a podium position in my first race! ...
