Race Previews

Wetsuits & Authentic Enchilada Gravy....

Friday, 20 May 2011 03:00

(Photo - Taggart Downare, aka "The An-TAG-onist." This dude's been on a rampage dating back to the middle of the 2010 season.)

Race Preview - Own a wetsuit? If not, buy, rent or borrow one if you plan to race at the 7th annual Albert Lea Triathlon, which is a totally cool event produced by totally cool people, on Sunday. Water temps will be "invigorating." The goodish news is that the swim is only a quarter mile long.

On to the competitive stuff.

More interesting than predicting who will win on Sunday is who will place second.

Huh? ....

Let us 'splain. On paper, last year's runner-up, Sam Janicki, is the runaway fave. He's faster than a year ago, which is saying a lot. He did win seven races in 2010, after all. Also, his path to victory is further cleared by the absence of 2009 and 2010 champ, Matt Payne, who will be racing at Gear West on Sunday. We would love to see a rematch as both men appear to have gone to, as they say, the next level. Who would win that match-up? We don't know, but they will face each other in two weeks at Buffalo. That should be an epic battle.

The race for second should be an exciting one, featuring North Mankato's Todd Landgraff, who was 3rd here in 2010, and St. Cloud's Taggart Downare, who is coming off a win /Masters Record/2nd fastest men's time ever at Chain Of Lakes. These guys have nine career victories between them and have demonstrated rapid improvement over the last year. We predict a tight race with no more than 30 seconds separating these adversaries at the end.

We'll have our eye on gifted teen, Brock Eastlund, a talented duathlete who will be making his tri debut at Albert Lea. We're also interested in the outcome of the junior girls contest, which features Hannah Strom, Shelby Woodworth and Mata Agre. We predict that Eastlund will get a JOY nomination at season's end, and hopefully one or more of the mentioned girls will also.

Who will win the women's overall title on Sunday? We don't know. Two-time women's champ Brooke Larsen will not be racing. We suspect that the ultimate women's winner is someone who hasn't registered yet. Blue Earth's Suzie Olsen, perhaps. If the winner comes from the current list of sign-ups, though, we suspect that Jennifer Neuman will pick up her first career multisport W. RACE WEBSITE

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