Race Coverage
Brad's Peeps....
-
Sunday, 31 July 2016 05:10
Photo - Brad Mitchell and his talented peeps, Gaby Bunten and Lisa Lendway.
TURTLEMAN - In our preview of this resurrected event we did not make any predictions, other than guessing that several of our state's elite triathletes would register late.
We we soooo right. Elite late registrants included eventual women's champ Gaby Bunten, women's runner-up Lisa Lendway, and winner of Manitou and Blaine in 2015, Chris Tatton, who would have to settle for 2nd on Saturday, though only by 14 seconds....
Putting the Smile Back on Her Face...
-
Thursday, 28 July 2016 23:10
By Kristin Gustafson
Toughman Race Report - Another ½ Ironman is in the books. It wasn’t the day I was hoping for, but I didn’t quit and even more happy that my MS symptoms were nowhere to be found!!
I decided to sign up for the Elite group this time. I was a little nervous about this and thought it was time to see how I would stack up. This morning was perfect. I love racing in hot weather so I was happy that it was going...
Breakouts & Breakdowns...
-
Wednesday, 27 July 2016 01:10
TOUGHMAN HALF - Sean Cooley is a balls-to-the-wall racer. He wants to win every race he enters and is willing to bust his hump to make that happen. Sometimes it works, like it did at Lake Waconia, where he took down the men's course record. And sometimes it doesn't, like at Minneapolis where he hammered the bike so hard he paid dearly on the run. Still, he managed a 2nd place finish behind a dude--Matt "Pain Train" Payne-- who hasn't been beaten by a fellow Minnesotan since 2012 and is a perennial USAT AOY HM.
At Toughman in Chisago City last Sunday, Dr. Cooley once again let it all hang out during the bike portion. Despite the headwind on the return portion, he kept his head down and cranked furiously until the end. By that time his leg muscles had turned to oatmeal. The four-minute lead over eventual winner, that pesky Payne, dwindled quickly.
Matt, who wasn't feeling too spunky either, took the lead before the five mile mark of the run.
Oatmeal Legs fought valiantly the rest of the way, but eventually had to settle for 4th. He was overtaken by the event's amateur race record holder, Tim Hola, and Kris Spoth, who raced because last weekend's ca-ca weather cheated him out of a successful 70.3 experience in Racine....
Blank & Heiney....
-
Wednesday, 27 July 2016 00:10
TOUGHMAN SPRINT - The wetsuitless swim may have added minutes to the times of those doing the half IM, but it appeared to have had little impact on the sprinters, who only had to swim 400 meters.
Nicole Heininger (photo) successfully defended her 2015 title by leading from the get-go. Her small gap after the swim grew to an insurmountable one after the 22-mile bike portion. Though Diane Hankee, who has 28 career multisport wins and has been racing like a banshee in 2016, outran Heiney by more than a 30-seconds a mile over the closing 5K, it wasn't nearly enough to close the gap. Diane's 1:23:00 would rank as the 5th fastest women's time in the 11-year history of the sprint--only pros Heather Lendway (twice) and Lauren Goss, and now Nicole Heininger--had gone faster.
Soul Food & Newsy Stuff...
-
Monday, 25 July 2016 05:10
BERTRAM BLAST - (ED. Apologies in advance for inflicting our inner hippie on our readers.)
After almost three decades of growth and prosperity, the sport of Triathlon peaked. Race directors didn't see this coming (2010-2011), however, and many new races were were added to the calendar at that time.
Here in Minnesota, almost 30 new events came into being during that period. The result of that (and other factors), of course, was the dramatic reduction in event attendance in the years that followed....
Fast & Memorable...
-
Saturday, 23 July 2016 23:10
ED. Hey Everyone - Just got back from Chisago an am too pooped to write about the awesome racing that took place in Minnesota this weekend. Will write tomorrow and post on Tuesday. For now, here are some results links: BERTAM BLAST & TOUGHMAN.
From SDTriNews.com
The Outland Challenge at Lake Cochrane featured some competitive and memorable talent along with the typical average-Joe, hard-working athletes this year on a sunny (but not hot) and breezy day this past Saturday.
(results are listed here)
David Thompson, the nicest male pro triathlete you’ll ever meet, defended his previous champion status well, winning the men’s sprint title while Bridget McCoy, the nicest female pro triathlete you’ll ever meet, won the women’s sprint title and also maintained her place as the queen of the Outland sprint for now. The real races in the sprint division were amongst the second and third place, where the uber-fit...
