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Broken Records, Leapt Fences & Bum Knees...
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Tuesday, 30 June 2015 08:10
LAKE WACONIA TRIATHLON - Who said that triathlon wasn't a spectator sport? We think it was a guy named Larry.
Larry was wrong. Triathlon, while not the same kind of viewing experience that you have when you watch a stadium sport or sports on TV, has thrilling moments that more than make up for those periods when all the athletes are in the hinterlands, out of sight though not necessarily out of mind.
The 26th edition of the Lake Waconia Triathlon, which in our humble opinion is and has been a nearly perfect sprint race, happened last Sunday and it was chock full of exciting moments, spectator moments.
Perhaps the most entertaining of these moments happened when Northfield's Brian Porter was hammering toward the final 90-degree turn that led to, as the great Phil Liggett would say, The Finishing Line. On autopilot, Brian overshot the turn and was headed into the transition area when spectators alerted him to his boo-boo. Regaining consciousness, Brian turned around and headed back toward the finishing line. He made a hard left at the fencing, which he soon learned marked the outside, not the inside, of the finish corridor. Instead of backtracking yet again, he lept over the fence (photo) then stumbled toward the timing mat, which he rolled over. It was soooo cool to watch and the spectators LOVED IT. ...
June 2015 Performance Report Card...
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Tuesday, 30 June 2015 07:10
If the MMAs were presented every month during the season, who would win the awards for June 2015? Here are our choices:
JUNIOR OF THE MONTH - Nick Klonne, 18, Rockford - In three starts, Nick was top junior and set AG records each time. At Manitou, he placed 2nd overall and also cracked the Top 10 (9th) at Liberty Half. At Buffalo Olympic, he placed 11th.
Also considered: Eliot Slade, Mitchell Clayton and Alyson Welch.
MASTER OF MONTH: Kevin O'Connor, 44, Medina - KO raced often and awesomely. In five starts he had one outright win (Liberty Olympic), two amateur wins (Pigman Sprint and RochesterFest Olympic - Masters CR), a 2nd (Lake Waconia) and a 4th (Capitol City).
Also considered: Tony Schiller, Sarah Mercer, Cheryl Zitur.
GRAND MASTER OF THE MONTH - Sheri Schrock, 61, Cohasset (photo L) - Sheri WON her AG by a huge margin at the ITU Long Distance World Championships in Motala, Sweden last weekend. For us, this effort gave her an edge over fellow considerees Jan Guenther, Greg Taylor and Deb Roberts....
Miller Repeats in Perham...
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Monday, 29 June 2015 00:10
Photo - Average Jo winners Kierann Smith Toth and Casey Miller, both of whom are originally from Wahpeton, North Dakota, which is a very nice town. It's not far from Dwight.
11th AVERAGE JO TRIATHLON - Casey Miller picked up his 6th career win in Perham last Saturday at the 11th annual Average Jo Triathlon. A Rookie fo the Year nominee in 2013, the year he placed 2nd here, Casey also won this race in 2014. That year he covered the .3-12-4 course 2:01 ahead of runner-up Branden Scheel of Fargo. This year's margin was smaller (1:12) and required that he significantly outsplit eventual 2nd placer Ryan Wippler, who won his first career multi at Lakes to Pines on June 13. 2013 winner Tyler Zima (Fargo) took 3rd with Scheel, a perennial top fiver...
Weekend Racing Highlights...
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Sunday, 28 June 2015 06:00
26th LAKE WACONIA TRIATHLON - If the women's Performance of the Year award was presented today, it would go to Suzie Fox, who crushed LWT's CR, a mark that had stood for eight years. Matt Payne picked up his 3rd 
consecutive win here. Words and pics on Tuesday. RESULTS
3rd Annual ST. JAMES TRIATHLON - Mankato's Matthew Busch has won all three editions of this sprint course race. Julie Gronewald of St. Peter, won today's women's competition and placed 4th overall. The event had 27 finishers. RESULTS...
Bike Crashes & Hotel Fires...
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Sunday, 28 June 2015 00:10
By Heather Lendway (heatherlendway.com)
COPPER CREEK TRI RACE REPORT - I was excited to race another “local” sprint triathlon as they are usually the most fun and I love racing with people I know. Fellow local pro Patrick Parish joined my dad and me for the ride down to Iowa. We were able to cram two bikes, all our racing gear and an extra body (Patrick) in the back of the car. Having a guest in the car was great for conversation and as always having a chauffeur was great for napping the second half of the ride, thanks Greg!
After arriving in Iowa we picked up our packets, dropped Patrick at his hotel, checked into ours, had some dinner and got to bed nice and early. Thank goodness for earplugs because our hotel was filled with young softball and baseball teams that were quite rowdy, that is until the fire...
