Race Previews
Kona Was a Bonus...& State Pride...
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Tuesday, 08 October 2013 02:10
By Diane Hankee
What do I hope to experience in Kona? Well… the triathlon or the Hula dancing?
I have raced some great courses this year and doing Kona will be the icing on the cake. After riding Ironman Texas with my bike seat detached, crooked and wedged against the seat post, I am hoping that a flat tire will be the worst that will happen in Kona. In TX I rode 65 miles with my seat in this condition and I debated if it would have been better to ditch the seat entirely. I didn’t want the day to end so I went with it. Thankfully the course was flat but the train tracks and bumps were numbing. My husband warned me in TX not to adjust my seat before the race. It was so painful that it resulted in a great bike split. However, going through water stops was like riding a unicycle and the distraction and pain lead to nutrition issues and a bad race. I felt horrible...
Living Vicariously...
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Sunday, 06 October 2013 00:10
By Ben Ewers (benewersblogspot.com)
Lake Tahoe Ironman - I lived this event vicariously through my son, Ben Ewers III. He had raced 3 half Ironman (Vineman, Racine, World Championship) culminating with the Tahoe Ironman in an 8 week stretch...
OLT Stuff
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Thursday, 12 September 2013 19:10
ONE LAST TRI PREVIEW – Insufficient parking forcedthis eight-year-old event to leave its venue at Big Marine Park, and relocate to Ramsey County Beach on the north shore of White Bear Lake in the community of the same name. Big Marine could comfortably accommodate race personnel and perhaps 300 participants. The White Bear location has hosted more than twice that many folks at past editions of the Manitou Sprint...
Stuff About Upcoming Stuff...
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Wednesday, 04 September 2013 09:55
One of the humongousest racing weekends is just days away. Locally, there are the Square Lake races, a two-day deal at beautiful Square Lake, and the zany-cool Burrito Union 5 & 10-Hour Tri near Superior, Wisconsin. If these events aren't pulling the fields they used to attract, the reasons--some obvious and some not-so-much--are many. A general "leveling trend" had been building the last 2-3 seasons. Next are theme races, mostly of the running variety, which are enticing many of the recreational athletes that typically account for a significant percentage of our tris and dus....
Thanks Final Stretch...
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Thursday, 29 August 2013 02:05
St. Croix Valley Olympic & Sprint Preview - It's hard to believe that these races started almost a decade and a half ago. (Thirteen years, to be exact.) It was in 2001 when Final Stretch decided to expand the scope of their running event production business to include multisport races. Since then, FS has produced more tris an dus than any Minnesota race management company. Though we don't have the exact count, it appears that Final Stretch has staged at least 70 multis on Minnesota and western Wisconsin soil.
Thanks Final Stretch.
Time to share some history. The SCVT's Sprint race has endured since 2001. The Olympic race was added in 2003. Here are the overall and non-open-class records for both events. You'll note than most of the CRs have stood for a long time....
