Race Coverage

Rochester's World Champions...

Tuesday, 08 November 2011 02:00

(Photo - Talent-richTeam Rochester - L - R - Joe Moyer, Alex Hooke, Diana Koepp & Ruth Brennan Morrey.)

By Warren Peece

ITU Long Distance World Championships - The MTN Guys sent me out to Henderson, NV, a sprawling bedroom suburb south of Las Vegas, for Saturday's ITU Long Distance Worlds.

Being a sheltered Midwesterner, I was unprepared for some of the stuff I encountered there. Like "Pricasso," and the "Lingerie Football League." And roving bands of methed-up Elvis impersonators.

In case you don't know, Pricasso is an artist from Australia who paints portraits with, and I'm not making this up, his weenie. No, I didn't buy a ticket to his "exhibition," which was at one of The Strip's more garish hotel/casinos. Wait! All the hotel/casinos on The Strip are garish....

I stumbled across the Lingerie Football League (photo below) while channel surfing in my hotel room at Loew's. I got to see the second half of a game between the Las Vegas Sin and the Seattle Mist. It was a hoot! I loved it and I recommend it highly. It changed my life. Seriously, check it out. LINK

Who won, you ask?

I don't remember.

Even more inspiring than the LFL game and Pricasso's portrait of "George Bush Taking it Like a Man" (LINK), was the amazing performance turned in by Rochester's Ruth Brennan Morrey at the ITU LD Champs. The tri-rookie WON the women's amateur competition by the garish margin of 7:36 over Germany's Dana Wagner (pronounced "Danna Vahg-ner", we think?). We checked out Dana's European results (FYI, Germany is in Europe) and learned that she rocks. Her win at T3 Dusseldorf (2:02 Olympic!) over a stout women's field was particularly impressive. She was also the 2nd amateur at ITU LD Worlds in Perth in 2009.

Great Britain's Tracy Cook rounded out the women's amateur podium. Cook was the 35-39W bronze medalist at Budapest Worlds (Olympic distance) in 2010.

Not yet thoroughly convinced that Brennan Morrey, who is a psychologist and therefore a very smart person in addition to being a very fast endurance athlete, out-raced a Championship-caliber field in chilly, breezy Vegas Heights last Saturday?

This should change your mind. Finishing 7th last weekend was 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist and 2011 USAT AG National Champion Susan Williams. Ruth beat her by 14:08. Additionally, had Brenna Morrey been a pro, she would have finished 9th against a totally world class field and pocketed $875. Whoa!

Also causing my shrunken Grinchlike heart to swell to three-times it size was the performance turned in by another Rochesterarianite: Alex Hooke. He, too, came away from Henderson with a Gold medal in his luggage.

That's right, he WON the 25-29M division and placed 9th overall among amateur men. He had almost finished a big bottle of blue Gatorade and a slice of cold Little Caesar's pizza when the 2nd place guy in his division, Nicholas Sigmon of California, crossed, as the great Phil Liggett would say, "The Finishing Line."

For those of you who are interested in pro results, Team USA's Jordan Rapp and Great Britain's Rachel Joyce shared the podium's top step. Australia's Joe Gambles and the UK's Leanda Cave finished in the silver medal position. Bronze medals went to 2010 ITU LD World Champ Sylvain Sudrie (FRA) and 2010 Ironman Canada winner Meredith Kessler (USA).

The course distances were basically 3x Olympic, i.e. 4K swim, 120K bike, 30K run. In compliance with an ITU rule, the swim was canceled due to cold water and chilly air. A British guy was making scary-sounding announcements before the race, claiming that the water temperature was 17 degrees and the air was 7 degrees. It didn't seem that cold to me until an Irish guy whose breath smelled like last night's Guinness, told me that the announcer was speaking "Celsius," not, and these were his words (we're not making this up!), "fookin' Fahrenheit like you Yanks prefer."

He then gave us the Yank numbers: 62 (water) and 44 (air). Then he spat. We agreed with his spit. It's a stupid rule.

The folks at frigid Albert Lea and hypothermic Ironman Coeur D'Alene didn't cancel their swims!

The good news is that though many of the athletes were steamed that the swim was axed, they didn't complain too much. Especially after the race, when a high percentage of the participants were drunk. It was totally cool. Americans have a lot to learn about alcohol abuse, but they are good students. And our GREAT friends from New Zealand and Australia and Ireland and Canada et al were generous teachers.

Keep in mind that the courses utilized were supremely challenging. The multi-loop run is very hilly and bike course featured 9000 feet of climbing. Here's how the Minnesotans fared last Saturday:

- Ruth Brennan Morrey (Rochester) - 1st overall amateur / 1st 35-39W - 6:00:49 (Pigman photo R)

- Alex Hooke (Rochester) - 1st 25-29M - 9th overall amateur male - 5:38:00

- Diana Koepp (Rochester) - 20th 25-29W - 7:13:17

- Joe Moyer (Rochester) - 17th 30-34M - 6:02:32

- Hilary Patzer (St. Paul) - 15th 30-34W - 6:54:47

- Josh Riff (Edina) - 8th 35-39M - 5:46:51

Have we missed anybody? If so, let us know and we'll gladly update this post.

ITU Long Distance World Championships - Henderson, NV - 11/5/11 - RESULTS