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G-Man Predictions...
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Wednesday, 31 July 2013 03:10
Graniteman-Big Lake - According to Yahoo Weather, that unassailable source of deadly accurate forecasting, conditions at Big Lake on Saturday should be totally groovy. Morning lows in the mid-50s, climbing to 70ish by lunchtime. Best of all, the sun should be visible, the winds negligible and the chance of rain, zilch.
Yeah. Let's see how all that works out. And if the sun actually shines, maybe some of us won't need to take our Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors. We can only hope.
Graniteman-Big Lake will celebrate its 3rd anniversary as the final, and arguably coolest, race in the G-Man Tri Series. A glance at the current reg. list tells us that a record crowd, perhaps 500 participants, should be on hand.
Let's do some predictions....
Nicole & Kevin Throw Down....
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Wednesday, 31 July 2013 01:10
(Photo - Nicole and Julie)
Waseca 1/3 & Sprint V - Nicole Heininger tightened her frontrunner's hold on the 2013 Rookie of the Year award on Sunday by winning the Waseca 1/3 in record time. She covered the 1-mile swim, 34-mile bike, 8.8-mile run in 3:02:25, which proved to be 2:04 faster than Diane Hankee's year-old CR. It was Nicole's first career W to go with awesome podium efforts at Heart of the Lakes and Lake Waconia.
Joining Heininger in the women's Top 3 were perennial stars, Julie Hull (3:08:13), and Gillian Auslander (3:11:30).
Lots of Awesome to Go Around...
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Tuesday, 30 July 2013 01:10
(Life Time - Minneapolis Photo - Heather Lendway and a guy's arm and another guy with a blue cap who is totally checking her out.)
Chisago Sprint VIII - Of all the shorter course "companion" events in Minnesota, the Chisago Sprint is clearly the most competitive of the bunch. This is saying a lot, as the sprint course races at Buffalo, Waseca and Minneman, to name a few, draw talented fields.
This year's sprint had, like the half, a longer bike route. Advertised originally as having a 22-mile bike leg, this year's middle portion was closer to 23 miles.
As in 2012, a pair of cool-guy-Midwestern-pros--Devon Palmer and Tom Gerlach--went off the front early and duked it out the rest of the way. Palmer prevailed last year. On Sunday it was Gerlach's turn...
Mi Brew-Casa, Su Brew-Casa...
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Monday, 29 July 2013 07:10
Brewhouse XXVII Preview - The race organizers are stoked, excited about the new home--Island Lake--for this annual classic. If they're cranked up, then so are we, 'cuz Rod and his team of miscreants and ne-er-do-wells know how to bring the FUN and have been doing just that for almost three decades.
Calling Rod, Howie, Matt (photo) and the Guys "Miscreants and ne-er-do-wells" is done with total affectionate. Sure, some of these guys have been indicted, but none of them have actually been convicted....
Wind & Sneaky People...
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Monday, 29 July 2013 05:10
(Photo - Sneaky guy, Brian Sames.)
Chisago Half VIII - A couple of sneaky people sorta stole the show at Sunday's Chisago "71" (bike course was 1K long due to road work stuff), which was contested under cool (low 50s), mostly cloudy and extremely windful conditions. Sure, David Thompson lived up to his "Favorite" billing, winning easily for the fifth consecutive year. And yes, Dan Hedgecock finished 2nd again and Matt Payne was the fastest amateur. That's good stuff, but predictable.
What wasn't foreseeable, perhaps, was Brian Sames' (pronounced "som-ess") awesome long course debut. Last season's Rookie of the Year runner-up timidly eschewed signing up for the Elite Wave, launching 12 minutes back in Wave 5 instead. Seemingly out of contention for a Top 5 finish after the first two legs of the race, Brian, now mustacheless, hammered a 1:15 run split. The result was a 4:16:04 debut, just six seconds behind likely 2013 US Athlete of the Year nominee Payne, and 1:13 ahead of the Dan Arlandson, who discovered, to his chagrin, at the Awards Ceremony that he had placed 5th, not 4th.
The same sort of thing happened in the women's "71." While Diane Hankee lived up to her favored status, posting a circumstantially awesome 4:46:08, a Wave 3 girl stole the 2nd place trophy and prize money from Kortney Haag, who rocked a sweet 4:47:07. That sneaky ..
