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Climate Changes & Dark Horses....
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Sunday, 14 July 2024 00:10
TIMBERMAN OLYMPIC COVERAGE - A windy morning agitated Sugar Lake. A brief downpour was endured on the bike course, though not at the venue, where ithe rain was light and transient. As five-time T-Man winner JAN GUENTHER, now 65, articulated on Facebook, the post downpour weather was sultry. Climbing temps and humidity greeted athletes after they dismounted their bikes. But their were few, if any, complainers, because this is Timberman, an event like no other.
A cursory look at the entrant led us to anticpate a dynamic women's race, with ELENA JASPER poised to show two-time champ HEATHER LENDWAY that the gap between them was shrinking fast.
A more thorough look would have revealed that there was someone else in the women's field who deserved to be taken very, very seriously. Her name is RACHEL WERKING (photo). She's a 26-year-old Wisconsinite and pro aspirant who placed 7th at the 2023 USAT National AG Championships, where her time was only 17-seconds slower than Lendway's.
HL outswan the entire field as expected. The second woman out of the water was Werking, who was 1:08 behind the leader. Heather entered T2 with a 2:22 lead on Rachel, and though the soon-to-be 40-year-old..
Minnesota's June Triathletes of the Month!
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Friday, 12 July 2024 00:10
Here are MTN's picks for June 2024 ATHLETES OF THE MONTH:
OVERALL AOMs - PRESTON YOUNGDAHL & ELENA JASPER (photo)
Two-time Minnesota Triathlete of the Year, Preston Youngdahl entered three races--Apple Tri, Trinona Olympic & Lake Minnetonka--thus far in 2024, and won each time. Jasper has also raced three times, winning twice --Lake Minnetonka and Clearwater Olympic--and setting a 70.3 personal best (4:47:40) at Chattanooga 70.3.
JUNIOR OF THE MONTH - NOAH BILLINGS, 18
Minnesota's two-time Junior of the Year is a profific racer. Thus. far this season, he has two overall wins plus two junior wins in races in which he finished 2nd overall....
Reasons to be Happy....
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Wednesday, 10 July 2024 00:10
By Doobie Kurus
Average Jo Race Report - In my quest to visit/participate in the various triathlons in MN, I was happy to have last weekend available in my schedule to do the Average Joe/Jo Tri in Perham. If you're not familiar with this race, you're not alone, even though it's the 19th edition of it. Aside from it being listed on MN Tri News and the Hopkins Royal Tri websites, it's tough to find. In fact, the race itself doesn't even have a website, just a FB page. So, not much information to glean, like the race day schedule, course maps, etc. With knowing that, I wasn't expecting much in terms of a race day experience. Still, I figured for $50 to register, what have I got to lose? I drove up on Friday afternoon, and enjoyed the numerous small cities along the way, like Big Lake, Sartell, Royalton, Little Falls, Motley, Staples, and Wadena.
39th T-Man Preview #1...
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Sunday, 07 July 2024 00:10
39th Timberman Triathlon Preview - The list we are using is from more than two weeks ago, and we expect to get an updated listing soon. Until then, here are some of the athletes we expect to excel on Saturday:
Olympic -
TOM BROWN, 65, Emily - Tim's a two-time Grand Master of the Year. His PR here is 2:26 (2022), a minute of Neil King's 65-69 record. Is he ready ready to do some rewriting? It's very possible. He's racing well this season.
SAMUEL HAUCK, 40, Eden Prairie - We're picking Sam to be the first master to cross the finish line this weekend....
Hasselhoff Running & Public Drooling...
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Friday, 05 July 2024 00:10
By Brandon Lee
Manitou Race Recap - First double for me last weekend, even though these are shorter races, the intensity is much higher, and the Manitou Olympic was another 2 hours of near red line on Sunday.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t carry any fatigue over from Saturdays sprint, but overall I felt pretty strong. The weather was so nice, and the sun was bright over WBL Sunday morning. It felt like it had been 10 days since that big orange thing in the sky revealed itself. That same sun was directly in our eyes for the first 600 or so yards l, and I had a lot of trouble sighting, nonetheless I felt very loose and fresh in the water, it was like a cold competition pool feeling and you can definitely push a bit harder and not worry about overheating. I was caught off guard at the end of the swim, it’s very shallow and my David Hasselhoff water running skills are not up to par. Hamstring cramped in transition but was able to peel out and get on the bike. I knew I had my work cut out for me as Marcus Duval was probably 3 minutes ahead at this point.
The bike course was fantastic, pretty much in my backyard and I ride these roads all the time, so I had a good tactical plan and knew where the hills were and when to push hard on the descents. Started to run out of gas at mile 20, but kept on pushing....
