Race Coverage
Cell Phone Throwing is a Real Thing...
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Wednesday, 31 January 2018 23:10
LIFE TIME ST. LOUIS PARK INDOOR TRI - Though St. Louis Park's enrollment increase wasn't huge--7 addtional athletes in 2018--the general registration trend for Life Time's indoor events is encouraging. And we certainly hope that translates to larger fields this summer when the outdoor multi season gets underway.
A pair of guys with cool Scandinavian names battled for the top spot at SLP. Winning by a mere two points, thanks to his speed in the pool, was SOREN HUGGINS, whose first name should have a slash through the "o", shouldn't it? That would make it more Danishy or Norwegiany.
In 2nd was avid summer triathlete, JUKKA KUKKONEN.
What do we know about these guys? Huggins attended Bemidji State, where he studied business stuff. He's a mortgage underwriter now. A big Minnesota Wild fan, he loves Buffalo Wild Wings (Who doesn't?) more than life itself. He once drank a lot of Jager and dropped trow at a golf course.
As for Jukka, he's originally from the "Old Country," i.e. Savolinna, which is the 31st largest city in Finland. We're not making this up: Savoliina hosts the World Cell Phone Throwing Championships. In 2000, the event was won by Erno Riihela.
Jukka is a very cool guy with a very cool accent. He's a fan of John Mellencamp and is into fancy cars. He can jump pretty high, too, as he did at Square Lake in 2015 (photo)...
Record Turnout at Chanhassen Indoor!
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Monday, 29 January 2018 23:10
LIFE TIME CHANHASSEN INDOOR - The Life Time Fitness January indoor triathlons happened on the 21st. Today, we are covering the Chanhassen event. These races are uniquely scored:
Scoring Overview: The Indoor Triathlon is based on time rather than distance – meaning you receive points for going further in a specific period of time, not going faster over a fixed distance. Participants are graded on a curve. The furthest distance in each category gets the most points (actual number is based on total participants), the shortest receives 1 point, and your “score” for the discipline is based on the points you achieve. All three disciplines count equally toward your final score.
The star of the show for the Chanhassen women was ERIN LAHTI, who was also victorious here in 2017. Erin finished 3rd overall in '17, and 8th overall this time around. What needs to be noted is that last year's event had 27 finishers, wheras 89 (!) athletes competed this year. Erin is into cool hats and headbands, and sometimes hangs out with another Erin, Erin Ladendorf (photo), who is a HOOT and has an awesome haircut.
Lahti was impressive at Minneapolis Sprint last July, cracking the women's overall Top 10....
Sir Sean and Other King B Stuff...
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Sunday, 28 January 2018 23:10
KING BOREAS WINTER TRIATHLON - SEAN COOLEY is rocking a cool new "look" these days. With his new beard, which his girlfriend adores, he looks a bit like Sir Walter Raleigh, the guy who invented cigarettes. All Sean needs to complete the 16th century image is one of those collars that looks like an automotive air filter.
Perhaps his new look is fitting. After all, he is one of our region's multisport aristocrats, i.e. triathlon royalty. His 2017 TOY award is the equivalent of his being crowned King of Minnesota's multisporters, is it not?
He has also proven himself to be the King of winter triathlon, a result of earning the title of National Champion two of the last three years. In his non-winning year, he finished a close 2nd to JOEL LAFRANCE, who couldn't race this year due to the flu.
With LaFrance on the sidelines, Sean was the clear favorite, and was expected to win by a sizable margin, which he did. It started with a very solid run, and finished with one of the Top 3 ski splits in the event. It was what happened in between those two disciplines where he truly exercised his supremacy. Throwing down 18.3 mph on a fat bike is crazy. His closest challenger on the bike, breakout multisporter, JACOB KEEHAN of Maple Grove, was 1.5 mph slower....
Cooley & Pruszenski are National Champions...
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Saturday, 27 January 2018 17:15
By Cody Crowther (usatriathlon.org)
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Sean Cooley (St. Paul, Minn.) and Jordan Pruszenski (Anchorage, Alaska) earned overall national titles on Saturday at the USA Triathlon Winter Triathlon National Championships, leading 67 athletes in pursuit of national titles and Team USA spots in St. Paul.
A Superior Adventure...
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Thursday, 11 January 2018 23:10
By Mike Ward (mikeward.cool Awesome photo by Cole Peyton)
Superior 100 Race Day: Friday, September 8, 2017 – 8am
I feel like I had been building up to this race for 3 years. I remember hearing about Superior as a lowly triathlete and being kind of mystified by the thought of a 100 miler, learning about Western States and other ultramarathons and thinking I’d never do anything like that. After my first marathon, I signed up for a 50k. Trail running is fun. Fast forward a year or two and I’m in a 50 miler, hike the Superior Hiking Trail, and I’d be hard pressed not to step up to the big boy. The main reason I wanted to register for the Superior Fall Trail Race aka Superior 100, also known as Sawtooth, was my intense passion for the Superior Hiking Trail. Having hiked the whole trail, it seemed so fun to try a different challenge in a different format. Plus, what runner doesn’t want to have a 100 mile finish on their resume?
The background and history of Sawtooth is incredible. I don’t need to regurgitate, visit www.superiorfalltrailrace.com for all the information you need. One of the oldest 100 mile races is the country… founded in 1991 when there were around 10- 100 mile races… almost all singletrack trail and 100% on the Superior Hiking Trail. In my opinion, it is the most challenging 100 mile section of the SHT....
Glory Requires Alignment...
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Wednesday, 10 January 2018 23:10
By Mike Buenting (mikebuenting.wordpress.com)
.....November 12th was the Madison Marathon this was the final race of my 2017 season and I’m glad it’s behind me now! So as every major race ends for me part of my moving on process is to write about the experience and help me process the day, the training, and move on. So that’s why you all get to read my blog post now.
For 10-11 years now, I have run 2-3 marathons per year and when I signed up for Madison marathon 2017 I said this would be my final marathon for one year! So, 2018 will be my first year of no marathon races, I’m going all in for multi-sport and I’m sure run some shorter stuff like a 10 mile or half marathon. I’m really looking forward to the break from the marathon and the work load that goes with training for a marathon. But 2019 I’m sure I’ll be back chasing after that 26.2 mile distance!
Back to Madison marathon, so this is the hardest course I have ever run! I have raced Boston 9 times, New York City, Twin Cities, Chicago, Des Moines, Phoenix AZ, Houston TX lots of races and I would say none of them were this hard! The hills on this course are just relentless and they just keep piling on the hardest of hills late in the race! The hill at mile 22 was just mean, and the finish line is straight up hill so mile 26 was wicked as well! Mix in...
