Race Previews

2023 LMT's Talented Women's Field...

Sunday, 11 June 2023 00:10

2023 Lake Minnetonka Preview - It's possible that next Saturday's Lake Minnetonka Triathlon will field the deepest women's field of the 2023 tri season. Here are the women, in alpha order, we think will crack the Top 10, understanding that these are not the only credentialed women who are entered....

ISABELLA BUENTING - The junior LMT record holder is twenty now. She finished 4th last year and 3rd the year before that. It will be hard to crack the Top 5 this year, but Bella is talented enough to make that happen.

ELENA HENGEL - Elena was 3rd here in 2022 and her 2023 resume--repeat win at Buffalo Sprint, 2nd place at Iowa State Olympic Distance Championship--suggests that she is capable of doing that again.

HEATHER LENDWAY (photo) - Minnesota's greatest female triathlete of all time, Heather is undefeated in three starts here. She is also the only woman. to break 1:10 on this course, and she's done it twice.

LISA LENDWAY - This will mark Lisa's return to Triathlon after a five year layoff. She should be rusty yet competitive enough to sneak into the top 10. So you know,  she placed 2nd here in 2016.

WHITNEY MOORE - Since placing 9th here last year, Whitney has won two races and her confidence is soaring.

ANDREA MYERS - A five-time Master of the Year nominee, she has recorded two 6ths and a 4th here in the last three years.

VANESSA NAGEL - We hope she's healthy enough to make her LMT debut next Saturday. She has sratched from her first two races of the season. If she's good to go, a Top 3-5 is certainly possible.

CHRISTINA ROBERTS - A three-time LMT winner with 28 career triathlon victories on her scorecard. She's never missed the podium here and there's no reason to believe that streak will end on Saturday.

MAGGIE SWANSON - In three LMT starts, she has a win and two 2nds. Like Nagel, an injury kept her off the start line at Buffalo. Let's hope she'll be race-ready. 

UPDATE: Maggie is out for the season after achilles surgery. Who will take her place in our Top 10? Anna Rainer? Jan Guenther? Based on muscle memory, we're going with Jan. She's podiumed her five times, two of which were wins.

CHERYL ZITUR - She may be 57, but she's still winning races, 20 to be exact, all since the age of 49. She raced here in 2015, placing 4th. She's coming off a fast 2nd place finish at Buffalo Sprint.

UPDATE - Cheryl has informed us that she will not be racing.

JAN GUENTHER - Like Cheryl Zitur, Jan is an outlier. Common wisdom says that both women are too old to still be competitive in the overall standings, but CW is wrong here. Jan, at 64, never finsihed lower than 7th in the four Minnesota races she did last year. 

NEXT TIME: We will preview LMT's men's field.