FEATURES
Masters Men Team Minnesota - Part II...
-
Thursday, 29 December 2016 23:10
Here is our unofficial 2016 Men's Masters Team Minnesota:
1. KEVIN O'CONNOR (45, Medina) - Slam dunk selection. Winner of two races outright and placing 5th on "overall" Team Minnesota, KO is the only Minnesota master who was not beaten by a fellow 40-plusser in 2016.
2. DAVID HOLDEN (47, North Hudson, WI) - Eighth on overall Team MInnesota, David won four of the six races he entered and was beaten by a fellow master--Chap Achen--on only one occasion. Clear choice for #2 on this list.
3. BRIAN BICH (50, Duluth) - Minnesota's only National Champion in 2016, and winner of the MOY award, where age-grading was employed, Bich won two of the four races he did last season. He was beaten only once by a Minnesota master (Kevin O'Connor).
4. BRETT LOVAAS (41, Minnetonka - photo L) - Brett was the overall masters champ at three of the four regional races he did. He grew a beard in 2016 and it looks awesome. He kinda looks like Rutherford B. Hayes....
Masters Men Team Minnesota - Part I ...
-
Wednesday, 28 December 2016 23:10
Today we reveal the guys who, in our opinion, are the fifteen most viable candidates for spots on MTN's unofficial 2016 Masters Men Team Minnesota. Our original list had almost thirty names on it, but several very talented men either did not meet the minimum "Volume" criteria (at least three outstanding performances in 2016), or had consistency issues that eliminated them from consideration.
And it's too dang bad. This is because elite athletes like Chap Achen (47, Red Wing), Jeff Grebner (48, St. Paul), Dennis Mohagen (40, Mounds View), Emmanuel Darne (43, Woodbury) and Rod Raymond (50, Duluth) had insufficient volume, and Dan Arlandson (40, Burnsville), Thaddeus Ingersoll (45, Minneapolis) and David Lewis (42, Nevis) had consistency issues due in large part to bad luck (mechanical problems, missed turns etc.) or injury.
As with the unofficial Masters Women Team Minnesota, which was posted yesterday, an age-grading system was not employed. All athletes were treated as if they were 40-years-old.
Here are our finalists: ...
Women's Masters Team Minnesota...
-
Tuesday, 27 December 2016 23:10
As promised, today we are posting our very unofficial (only two of the MMA Committee members were available to participate in this process) Women's Masters Team Minnesota for 2016. So you know, this was much harder than figuring out overall Team Minnesota. This is because, other than the top four picks, all the other women took turns beating each other. So, as with women's overall Team MInnesota, this masters team is basically an All Star team, with places 6-10 (actually 6-15) being virtually interchangeable....
Masters Team Minnesota...Part I...
-
Monday, 26 December 2016 05:10
By Warren Peece
On December 14, Christel Kippenhan suggested, via Facebook, to her fellow 50-54 tri stars Cheryl Zitur and Julia Weisbecker, that they should put together a 2016 Masters Team MInnesota. We think this is an awesome idea, so much so that a few of the MMA Committee members have decided to create such a team, too. We are doing this "unofficially," with the intent of paying tribute to our state's mature multisporters,
We are curious to see how Christel's team would differ from ours.
To make the task easier, though not by much, we will not be employing an age-grading system and will not consider athletes that have fewer than four outstanding performances on their 2016 resumes. Unfortunately, the "volume rule" eliminates several fine athletes, like Jody Quesnell and Sara Sampsell-Jones.
Still, the list of female considerees--we will build a men's team later in the week--is a long one. First, we whittled the overall list down to twenty names. Then we looked at five-year age groups, and pared the list down even further. We now have fifteen names, ten of which will make the Team. Here are the fifteen finalists for our Women's Master Team Minnesota: ...
Being a Triathlete on the Cheap...
-
Sunday, 25 December 2016 23:10
ED. The MTN Guys are big fans for Jesse Thomas, not just as an athlete, but as an insightful guy and skilled storyteller.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to sell a kidney to race a triathlon.
By Jesse Thomas (triathlete.com)
As the legend goes, when I won my first Wildflower, I was a poor, lowly, smelly, first-year pro. I used a borrowed bike and helmet, a hand-me-down kit, running shoes from my wife’s shoe sponsor, and of course, drugstore aviators. I drove down to Lake San Antonio in the 28-Twitter-follower-famous “ManVan with Matt Lieto” and slept in the closet of previous champion Chris Legh’s cabin. In a sport known for extreme expense as much for extreme exercise, “cheap” was the name of the game....
