Race Coverage
Cami & Brandon Are the "Real Deal"...
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Sunday, 18 August 2024 00:10
YOUNG LIFE TRIATHLON COVERAGE – We like to make performance predictions, and it's cool when we are correct, although that is usually a result of stating the obvious. Yes, we correctly predicted that BRANDON LEE and KADIE HOKANSON would win Young Life's Olympic race, and that SEAN PICKLE and CAMI ECKHOFF would prevail in the Sprint, but few would have bet against those picks.
What we like even more than being correct, is being surprised, which often means that being wrong is more fun than being right. There were some cool surprises at yesterday's tris, which were celebrating its platinum-plus-one (21st) anniversary.
Examples of pleasant surprises included the fact that while we were correct about Leee winning the men's Olympic men's race, and that NICK JASMER, ANDREW MOEN, DAVID LEWIS and BRETT WINKLEMAN would be among the top finishers, we were wrong about the order. We picked Jasmer to finish 2nd. When Nick saw our preview post, he responded to noting that Fargo's NATHAN MEYETTE (photo) deserved to be on “Podium Watch,” our words not Nick's. He was right. Nathan finished 2nd overall....
Becky Returns. She and Preston Did What They Do...
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Wednesday, 14 August 2024 00:10
Photo - Women's Olympic podium and a baby.
20th GREEN LAKE OLYMPIC coverage - Eleven men have broken 1:50 on GL's Olympic-esque (.75 - 22 - 6) course, though never more than three in a single year, and that happened back in 2012. At the very least, that was destined to be at least matched last Sunday. 2023 champ COREY NYGAARD, who is faster this year than last, JOE ADRIAENS, a consistent sub-2-hour guy at full Olympic distance, and the seemingly invincible PRESTON YOUNGDAHL, a late registrant who has won 10 of the 11 Minnesota tris he's entered since returning to his homestate in 2021.
Talent wasn't the only factor that portended fast times for the men. The conditions were perfect. Mild temps, low humidity, negligible wind, flat water.
Only two woman had ever broken two hours here, and it appeared on paper that times closer to 2:10 would land on the podium. Then, like Youngdahl, BECKY YOUNGBERG showed up on race morning. Becky is the course record holder here, having done so back in 2018. She came into the race with three wins in five starts this season. Though the clear favorite, there were several Green Lake vets, like two-time winner MERILEA OSTERLUND, and BECKY LEIS, a two-time runner-up here, hoping to round out the Top 3. Additionally, AMY PREUSSER, who has been turning in very solid performances for the last two seasons, was enrolled....
Josh, Cami & the Law of Averages...
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Monday, 12 August 2024 00:10
21st NORTHWOODS TRIATHLON COVERAGE – BROOKS GROSSINGER did not win this sprint triathlon in 2005 and 200g for a very good reason. He wasn't there. His did win every other NWT, though, a total eighteen....
Brisk Racing...Updated...
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Sunday, 04 August 2024 00:10
2024 GREEN LAKE INTERMEDIATE PREVIEW - We are anticipating some brisk racing next Sunday at the 18th edition of the Green Lake Intermediate (.75 - 22 - 6) Triathlon. Defending champ COREY NYGAARD is returning. He's racing at a Team Minnesota level this season and, weather permitting, become the 13th man to break 1:50 here. He'll need that kind of time to repeat. He'll be facing JOE ADRIAENS, a legitimate sub-2-hour Olympic-distance racer. Will Joe have put his Covid symptoms behind him by race time? We're guessing he will.
UPDATE: Corey Nygaard collected his third W of the season this morning at Hoot Lake by a four-minute margin.
MERILEA OSTERLUND has two wins and a pair of 3rds in this race. Her PR here is 2:07. We're picking her to finish 2nd on Sunday behind KADIE HOKANSON, who is making her Green Lake debut. Kadie was nominated for Master of the Year last year and her times are even more impressive this season. A sub-2:04 would be one of this race's Top 10 fastest women's times ever. We think that Kadie is ready to throw down that kind of performance.
AG Prediction: We believe the husband/wife team of JEFF GILMER, 65, and MARY DEEG, 62, will rewrite their respective divisional records. Jeff already owns the 60-64M mark. Jeff will need to better 2:19:07, which we believe is very doable. Mary need a sub-2:30:34. A lot to ask? Sure....
Magic Kona Coffee Beans...
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Friday, 02 August 2024 00:10
By Kenneth Downer
Instead of a typical blow-by-blow race report, this one simply shares a few vignettes from my experience at Ironman Lake Placid 2024 to convey a sense of the race and the atmosphere of an Ironman event. I hope you enjoy it.
Before the Gun.
• 3:15 AM. Coffee. The beans I grind are part of a quarterly delivery I get from Kona, Hawaii. My daughter and I toured the Heavenly Hawaiian Farms coffee plantation after I raced on the Big Island in 2019. I signed up for regular shipments to maybe keep that Kona spirit alive. I hope that perhaps those beans might somehow add a little something special to my race today.
• Standing with our toes in the moist sand on the starting beach of Mirror Lake, we listen as a local singer belts out the National Anthem with commendable skill. Her final words are drowned out as an Apache helicopter gunship roars out of the leaden sky and over our heads.....
Hasselhoff Running & Public Drooling...
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Friday, 05 July 2024 00:10
By Brandon Lee
Manitou Race Recap - First double for me last weekend, even though these are shorter races, the intensity is much higher, and the Manitou Olympic was another 2 hours of near red line on Sunday.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t carry any fatigue over from Saturdays sprint, but overall I felt pretty strong. The weather was so nice, and the sun was bright over WBL Sunday morning. It felt like it had been 10 days since that big orange thing in the sky revealed itself. That same sun was directly in our eyes for the first 600 or so yards l, and I had a lot of trouble sighting, nonetheless I felt very loose and fresh in the water, it was like a cold competition pool feeling and you can definitely push a bit harder and not worry about overheating. I was caught off guard at the end of the swim, it’s very shallow and my David Hasselhoff water running skills are not up to par. Hamstring cramped in transition but was able to peel out and get on the bike. I knew I had my work cut out for me as Marcus Duval was probably 3 minutes ahead at this point.
The bike course was fantastic, pretty much in my backyard and I ride these roads all the time, so I had a good tactical plan and knew where the hills were and when to push hard on the descents. Started to run out of gas at mile 20, but kept on pushing....
