Race Previews

Cops, Turtles & Hoots....

Wednesday, 27 July 2016 05:10

WALKER TRIATHLON - 2015 champ / course record holder Larry Hosch has been unable to race this season. A thing with his achilles. He recently started running again and plans to try to defend his Walker CTP (Chase the Police) title on Saturday....

Can he do it? Can he win the 7th edition of this great "Resort Town" event?

We think so. Granted, we're assuming that Lare has been biking and swimming his buns off during his raceless period. Because the CTP is a bike-heavy / short run (2.4) race, and because Hosch is as hungry as a banshee, we think that his third career victory will happen this weekend.

We're not saying it's gonna be easy, though. His chief competition will come from Thomas Anderson III, who placed 2nd here in 2014. Anderson's last race was a 2nd place finish at Minneapolis Sprint. He beat some fast guys there.

Still, we're favoring Larry because in their only head-to-head battle--Lakes Country in 2015--he (Larry) came out on top.

On paper, the women's battle for first place should be between Jacqueline Bacigalupi and Tara Makinen. We think that Tara has the edge. She's raced twice this season, winning once and placing 2nd on the other occasion. Jackie, on the other hand, has not raced in 2016 up to the level she displayed in 2014 and 2015, breakout seasons for her. (IM training?) Besides, she raced the Toughman Half last Sunday. Tara should come into the race with fresher legs.

In the AGs, we predict that 2015 Grand Master of the Year Neil King, 66, will turn in the fastest time for all men over 50. Linda Langkos, 52, should win her division handily, as should Jan Handlos, 62, who won her AG at Ironman Wisconsin last fall.

TURTLEMAN & HOOT LAKE - Also on Saturday are the 2nd edition of the "New" Turtleman in Shoreview, and the umteenth Hoot Lake Tri in Fergus Falls. We won't predict winners for T-Man because we're convinced that, as in 2015, several Minnesota elites will be among the late registrants. For those who don't know, the Turtleman venue is spectacular. RACE WEBSITE

As for the Hoot Lake event, we have not seen a list of entrants. We assume that hometown star David Jensen will be there, thus we are predicting yet another win for him. We've heard great things about this event and hope that the turnout is large.

We also hope that Angie Hop races there. She's a HOOT! -  RACE WEBSITE