Race Coverage

Righteous Racing at Rebecca...

Monday, 10 June 2013 03:10

(Photo - John Heinlein III rocked an excellent 3rd at Liberty Olympic last weekend.)

Liberty Olympic IX - Last Saturday's Liberty Triathlon was a great race with a great vibe. Part of the event's greatness was due to the inordinately high number of visiting athletes (most of whom raced in the half IM). Scads of Dakotans and Iowans, and especially Canadians, took part in what Mark Bongers of Final Stretch (the company that owns and manages the event) called the "best Liberty yet." If you were there, you'd find that assessment hard to refute....

Kevin O'Connor has been on a Victory Ramage of late. He won the Liberty Olympic by a handy margin. It was KO's first of two victories of the weekend--he dominated at Manitou on Sunday--and his third W in an eight day period. He was the amateur champ on June 2 at Pigman Sprint, an event he's won, we think, nine times. His Manitou win total is in the 7-9 range, too.

Kevin's Winners Circle mate was Christina Roberts, who has won this event for the last three years. The St. Louis Park resident who has a very cool mother who is also a talented endurance athlete, lowered her own course record on Saturday from 2:12:56 to 2:13:21. Her margin of victory was a zaftig 7:59!)

Several awesome divisional records were set in the Olympic contest at Lake Rebecca:

- 50-54W - Sherry Lynn Hill (Thunder Bay, ONT) - 2:37:00 (Sherry Lynn lowered her own 2012 CR by 6:12!)

- 55-59W - Beth Guck (Andover, MN) - 2:38:15 (Old Mark - Helen Gunther - 2:44:41 - 2012)

- 60-64M - Kent Schwitzer (Minnetonka, MN) - 2:26:45 (Old Race Record set at Lake Independence - Steve Kagol - 2:45:58 - 2010. Kent also owns the 55-59 Race Record - 2:14:48, set in 2009.)

- 65-69W - Shirley King (Sioux City, IA) - 3:29:45

LIBERTY OLYMPIC TOP 5s (Complete Results)

MEN - 1. Kevin O'Connor (Medina, MN) - 1:53:46, 2. Justin Manning (Sioux Falls, SD) - 1:55:58 (Justin won Liberty Olympic in 2011.), 3. John Heinlein (Stillwater) - 1:58:00 (Olympic PR), 4. David Holden (North Hudson, WI) - 1:58:18 (DH won here in 2012, setting a CR?MR - 1:53:32.), 5. Dan Cohen (Eden Prairie) - 2:05:24.

WOMEN - 1. Christina Roberts (St. Louis Park) - 2:12:21 - Course Record, 2. Veronica Bond (Rochester) - 2:20:20 (Veronica also rocked a 2nd place finish at Trinona Sprint on Sunday!), 3. Paula Plant (Chanhassen - photo L) - 2:23:39 (This may have been PP's best tri performance since her 4th at Lake Minnetonka in 2009. Way to rock, Paula!), 4. Juli Currie (Chanhassen) - 2:24:48, 5. Tracie Kent (St. Paul) - 2:24:49, 6. Jen Martone (Minneapolis) - 2:26:15 (We added Jen here because she returned the book she borrowed from us seven months ago and we are very grateful.)

We didn't say anything about the weather because we're tired of writing negative stuff. In truth though, the conditions last Saturday at Lake Rebecca, the event's new home, weren't bad. As we say here in Minnesota, "you could do a lot worse."

BONUS STUFF - MTN congratulates Sean Cooley and Ruth Brennan Morrey, who turned in impressive efforts on the 70.3 circuit. Sean was 5th amateur / 14th overall at Kansas 70.3. His time was a personal best 4:14:36. Rookie pro, RBM placed 5th at Abruzzo, Italy. Once again, she blasted the run course in 1:19:21, almost four minutes faster than the split of the 2nd fastest woman.