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Insane Splits & New Names...

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2024 Maitou Triathlon Coverage - MARCUS DUVAL's swim and bike splits at Manitou Olympic last Sunday were insane. The fact that a 41-minute 10K could still get him across the line in less than two hours on a course that had a little extra distance in both of the first two phases clearly illustrates this. And yes, he won by a substantial margin over the runner-up, who was elite master BRANDON LEE, the guy who won the Clearwater Sprint Triathlon the day before. Marcus' time was 1:59:46. Brandon's was 2:08:45, featuring solid splits throughout.

Third place went to lapsed triathlete ANDY WIBERG, now 45, whose last race prior to this season was Maple Grove Olympic in 2021. Andy competed in Ironman 70.3 Des Moines on June 9, where he finished 4th in his AG (4:36:55).

Winning the women's Olympic race was KRISTINA GEIGER. (2:26:51). We don't know much about her, but we think she might own a weirdly cool fish hat (photo). FYI, the MTN Guys love to see new people win races or rock high placings in our state's multisport races.

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Love, Newbies and Breakouts....

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GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER. COVERAGE -  JESSICA, 45,  and JASON , 53, are in love, the capital L head-over-heels kind. Poor Jessica, though.  Jason is training for Ironman and their time together is limited. Unless! Unless non-trathlete Jessica becomes Triathlete Jessica. Then they can train together occasionally, but also have a mutual interest to talk about at the end of the day. Jason knew that the best way to addict his fiance (we think?) to the tri lifestyle is to do a race together. When she crosses her first finish line, she will be hooked like a Netflix binge-watcher.

Jason Riley lstarted three minutes in front of his beloved at Saturday's Clearwater Sprint. He waited for her at the mount zone Then they rode and ran together the rest of the way,  sometimes holding hands. Did it work? Heck yeah! She's a triathlete now. Okay, what they did was not exactly legal but it's hard to get upset when you're in the presence of true love.

KAITSEY BAKER was bursting with joy when she crossed the finish line in 2nd place at Clearwater Sprint. Her elation was infecious. Her family was awaiting her, as was her boyfriend. He had flowers. Who is Kaitsey Baker, you ask? We asked ourselves the same question. She's a tri newbie, and to say she has aptitude for this sport is like saying Caitlin Clark is a pretty good basketball player....

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Sweet Moments & Great Performances...

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2024 Lake Minnetonka Triathlon - The 20th edition of this classic event had more than it share of great moments, perhaps the sweetest of which occurred during the pre-race meeting. The national anthem singer, Aubree, age 13, stood frozen in front of a a crowd of more than five hundred triathletes, plus their friends and families, and a host of volunteers. Poor girl. Then, at the gentle urging of event host MIke Rogers, some of the athletes began to sing. Soon the majority of the crowd was singing. Empowered, Aubree, with mic in hand, joined in. It was a beautiful moment and the post-song applause was thunderous. Some of us get misty at times like these...

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2024 Graniteman - Clearwater

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2024 Clearwater Preview...

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GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER PREVIEW - The original Graniteman Triathlon was launched 21-years ago in a bucolic venue southwest of St. Cloud, where it lasted six years. Then in relocated to Warner Lake Park near Clearwater where it hopes to remain in perpetuity. It's cool venue with a terrific swim course that crosses Warner Lake. The bike portions on both the Sprint and Olympic races are significantly longer than standard, e.g. 14.3, not 12.4 in the Sprint, and 28:66, not 24.8 in the Olympic. Minnesotans love bike-heavy races.

Since the purpose of this post is to preview the competition, let's share what we think based on the list of those we know are racing. If additional competitive racers sign up after this posts, we will update.

Who's racing this Saturday? Here, in alpha order, are some of the people we expect to excel: ...

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