Race Coverage
Revenge of the Newbs....
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Thursday, 16 February 2023 00:10
BUZZ RYAN SPRINT COVERAGE - While the usual suspects battled for top spots in the women's race, a pair of ex-collegiate runners with little or no prior tri experience, broke away from the the established swim-bike-runners in the late stages to claim the gold and silver positions for the men. Exciting stuff.
Former Duluthian and Gopher distance runner MATT WELCH had PRs superior to those of Mankato's MICAH WARNING (Great Name!), who ran for Winona State, and he demonstrate that fact by throwing down a 11:54 split in the closing 2.4ish mile run. That's sub-5 miles, folks!
But it was only enough to earn him 2nd place. Warning's swim split, together with superior transitions, gave him an edge that proved to be insurmountable. (FYI, his run was wicked fast - 12:2, Sub - 5:10 pace--too. ) Micah's winning time - 49:45--gave him 2:45 to recover before Welch's arrival, and another 31 ticks before the vastly improved MICHAEL KARAU made his bronze medal effort official. Karau commented later that "the second guy--Welch--blew by me like I was jogging." (6:20-pace is not jogging!) ...
Bigger & Better Than Ever...
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Tuesday, 14 February 2023 00:10
By Doobie Kurus
The 3rd Annual SWIM-Off to Summer open water challenge took place on Saturday, June 4th and it was bigger and better than ever. We had 180 people registered, from 8 different states, including Texas, Arizona, and California. This was a 30%+ increase from last years numbers. Imagine if the forecast wasn't calling for storms, which fortunately never happened. It turned out to be a beautiful day for a jump in the lake. We had a nice mix of swimmers (94) to triathletes (87), although we noticed well over half the field was made up of female competitors. ...
Brooks and Cheryl Repeat at Northwoods...
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Saturday, 11 February 2023 00:10
NORTHWOODS COVERAGE - The 55-59ers really took care of business last weekend. On Saturday, ROD RAYMOND, 57, and AMY WOOLSEY, 56, took home the top prizes at Moose Lake. On Sunday CHUCK HENGEL, 58, and TERESA VAN HYFTE, 56, excelled at Green Lake Sprint. Hengel finished 6th overall and was beaten by only one over-40 triathlete. Unsurprisingly, Van Hyfte, a three-time Green Lake winner, landed on the overall podium....
Bon Jovi, Broken Brains, Drinking Urine, Making the Right Call...
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Wednesday, 08 February 2023 00:10
ED. We couldn't find any triathlon photos of Kyle, so instead we are posting a pic from a MTB race and one from his bygone basketball days. As you can see, he had a sweet baseline jumper.
By Kyle Krause
Prologue
2022 Ironman Wisconsin Race Report - Once upon a time, not so long ago. Those are the first spoken words in Bon Jovi’s 1986 intergalactic mega-hit “Livin’ on a Prayer” and it also describes when I had my first go at a full Ironman. In 2019 I managed a 12:01 in Madison with a dreadful 4:55 marathon to end the day. Everything was going well the whole day until around mile 8 on the run when I decided to walk a little to get my heart rate down and collect myself. I guess my brain broke because I was not able to pick my legs up into a run after that. With no change in preparation I figured I should have been at least an hour faster. With that sour taste in my mouth, and after getting past the initial reaction of “I’m never doing that again”, I knew I wanted to make another attempt at some point just to improve my time. Armed with that experience, there wasn’t a lot I thought I needed to change aside from running more. I also stopped drinking beer after June 4th, with the exception of one in July after riding a mountain bike in Cable, WI (shoutout Nicollet Bike for paying). Was that necessary? No. “Is it necessary for me to drink my own urine? No, but I do it anyway because it’s sterile and I like the taste.” (The previous sentence is a line from the character Patches O’Houlihan in the documentary Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004, 92 min). But hey, enough chitchat, let’s party. ...
Last Weekend Today....Updated...
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Tuesday, 31 January 2023 00:10
Dane Nelson Photo - Alyssa Knese throwing down a breakout performance at Apple.
APPLE & OAKDALE DUATHLONS - The pandemic's "uncertainly" effect on the multisport racing scene was STARKLY evident last weekend, as both the Apple and Oakdale duathlons experienced lower that normal participation. Still, "The Race Must Go On," and there were plenty of positive takeaways. At Apple, which celebrated it's 40th anniversary, Sartell's ANDY ZABEL collected his dozenth career W, doing so in a time that lowered his Apple PR by one second. He and former Apple amateur winner BROOKS GROSSINGER went one-two, managing to stay in front of decorated out-of staters STEPHEN ELES of Colorado and TOM WOODS of Nebraska, guys who cracked the overall Top 10 at last month's Duathlon National Championships.
Finishing 4th between Eles and Woods was 2021 Junior of the Year runner-up / current JOY frontrunner NOAH BILLINGS. ...
E+R+O...
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Saturday, 28 January 2023 00:10
By Katie Deregnier
Chattanooga 70.3 Race Report - I decided to race Chattanooga for 2 reasons- 1. Tune up for Des Moines 140.6 2.To race with Kristen Hawkins (training partner since Aug 2021). It turns out, Chatty gave me so much more than I anticipated! Between hanging out with Kristen and our families, and running into several race challenges, this may have been the most unforgettable race I've ever done!
The swim was refreshing in the Tennessee river! 1.4 miles with the current was a pretty fun experience. The sunrise was behind us, making it easy to spot each buoy until the end where volunteers pulled us out of the water, ready for our next leg of the race! I finished the swim in 29 minutes, right on par!
At the start of the bike, there was a bit of a headwind along with a few hills. It felt a little challenging, but I knew it wouldn't be long until the tailwind, which would be super fun! I had just started experiencing the tailwind along with some super cool rolling hills and amazing views when I noticed my back wheel sounding like it was riding on the rim- uh oh! I pulled over and sure enough, it was flat.
In the back of my mind I had Paul and Tracy Serreyns voices talking to me- they had just finished giving me a "flat tire clinic" teaching me how to finish putting the tire on using a lever. They said to me, "a flat will not put you out of the race". I knew I had to try! Step by step I did what I was taught to do. In the midst of it all, Kristen rode by and screamed to me, "you got this, Katie!"-words that motivated! Next, I thought- do I know how to use CO2? Many cyclists may laugh at me, but I have been afraid to use co2 since I started biking in 2011! By some miracle I did it! It may not have been perfect, but it was done well enough to finish the last 20 miles! ...
