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Masters Mastery....
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Saturday, 29 June 2019 23:10
GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER - In both the Sprint and supersized Olympic races yesterday, masters women ruled. The podiums in each of those hard-fought races were earned by elite ladies over the age of forty, and their performances across the board were stellar, in spite of hot and muggly conditions that convinced raced management to make the humane decision to start the event an hour earlier than advertised.
In the Olympic-plus (the bike course, by design, was 6K longer than 40K) the question was not which of the Top 2 national class masters--CATHY YNDESTAD or KORTNEY HAAG--would, weather-be-damned--lower the course record (owned by Haag), but by how much.
By reputation and resume, CY had the edge. Her career scorecard boasts at least 75 multisport wins, making her our state's all-time winningest multisportwoman. And the fact that she came into the race with at least two stellar 2019 performances--1st at Cactus Sprint (AZ), 4th at Victoria (BC) 70.3--under her belt further clarified her favored status....
Jessica's Iron Quest - "I Had Not Earned it Yet."
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Friday, 28 June 2019 23:10
ED. We found this cool story about a Brainerd triathlete Jessica DeShaw on Facebook. ..
By Conrad Engstrom (brainerddispatch.com)
Jessica DeShaw remembers not crying despite not finishing her first ever Ironman triathlon in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.
She got pulled off at mile 17 of the run because she didn't make the marker in time.
"I did not know how to train in the heat and that was something that held me back," DeShaw said. "I remembering not crying because when they pulled me off I realized I had not earned it yet."
Will CY Be There? ...UPDATED AGAIN...
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Wednesday, 26 June 2019 23:10
GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER OLYMPIC - Though the Graniteman Clearwater event will be 10-years old on Saturday, its Olympic-plus distance event has only been a part of the progam since 2015.
We use the terminology "Olympic-plus" because the bike portion is longer than 40K. How much? About 6K, or about 3.8 miles.
Here in the upper Midwest, triathletes love lots of bike miles. One is not going to find many sprint races in Minnesota with only 20K (12.4) bike routes. They're more apt to a find a 20-mile course, as in the case of Heart of the Lakes, or a 22-mile route, as at Chisago.
As a result, of course, athletes who typically post, say, a 3-hour time at Brewhouse or Minneapolis, will probably need another dozen minutes to go the distance at G-Man. So you know, the course records belong to established elites, BENNETT ISABELLA (2:09:31 in 2015) and KORTNEY HAAG (2:24:40 in 2017), but more typical winning times are in the 2:14 range for men, and 2:30 range for women.
Who do we think will lead the way on Saturday? ...
Sean, Hanna, Caryn & Other Stuff...
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Monday, 24 June 2019 23:10
ATTENTION GRANITEMAN CLEARWATER ENTRANTS! Due to the expected high heat index on Saturday, the race will start at 8 AM instead of 9 AM.
HIGH CLIFF HALF IM - MTN congratulates SEAN COOLEY on his runaway victory last Sunday at the High Cliff Half on the northeastern coast of majestic Lake Winnebago south of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The victory, by a 10:30 margin over Milwaukee's ANDREW ERNST, was his 21st since relocating to Minnesota in 2011 from Grand Forks, ND. It was Sean's sixth win at the 70.3 distance, and his time of 4:07:34 was the 2nd fastest amateur clocking in High Cliff's 16-year history. It also marks the fifth time he has cracked the 4:10-mark.
Cooley's girlfriend, HANNA GRINAKER, on the advice of her coach, did High CLiff's Half Aquabike instead of the tri. The result was a ridiculously fast time--2:50:47--and an overall victory. The event is only a few year's old, but Hanna's time is its fastest time ever, and by a long shot. Second place on Sunday went to men's winner TOBIA MARTEN of Appleton, who finished 10:14 after Grinaker.
It was career win #11for the two-time MInnesota Female Triathlete of the Year, who did her first triathlon in 2016.
And just as groovy as Hanna's and Sean's performances were, one could argue that Minnesota's rockingest rockstar at High Cliff was actually CARYN HERRICK (photo with Peter Wikman), who placed 4th overall in the women's half behind three Elite Division ladies. Her 4:57:52 on High Cliff's super-challenging course is only her third triathlon, and her other two were back in 2013. PS - Caryn's boyfriend, sophomore triathlete PETER WIKMAN, also excelled, throwing down a time of 4:43:51, placing him 12th overal. RESULTS ...
The "Certs" of Special Events...
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Sunday, 23 June 2019 23:10
GEAR WEST DUATHLON - In the 60s and 70s , pre Tic-Tacs, Certs had a popular and successful advertising campaign in which one impossibly good-looking person stridently asserted to another impossibly good-looking person, "It's a breath mint!" The other good-looking person then argued, "It's a candy mint!" Then an unseen announcer halted the argument, claiming: "It's two, two, two mints in one." Visually punctuating the two-two-twos were two rolls of Certs smacking together....
