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Revealing Stuff...

Sunday, 21 July 2019 23:10

34th HEART OF THE LAKES TRIATHLON - Our state's oldest events, that is, those that have been around since the formative years of the sport, and have survived the recent, and unfortunately protracted, enrollment slump, are our best events. *

We're talking about the Apple Duathlon, Timberman, Brewhouse and Heart of the Lakes.

Apple is arguably our country's premier run, bike, run. Timberman and Brewhouse are true "destination" races.

And Heart of the Lakes, in our opinion, is the event with the biggest heart.

When they arrive at the venue, participants immediately feel a special sense of "friendliness" in the air.

Small-town pride and genuine human warmth is palpable.

HOLT is not only soul-nourishing, it is also one of our region's most competitive events, and this year's race was not only exciting, it was extremely revealing.

Revealing?

Yup. It revealed, for instance, that PATRICK PARISH is clearly the 2019 Triathlete of the Year male frontrunner. And we are not only talking about the Minnesota TOY honor. He's as formidable as any elite amateur man in the US right now, and we'd be disappointed if USAT overlooked him when determing their Athletes of the Year nominees....

North Country Twofer...Moose Lake & Buzz Ryan...

Saturday, 20 July 2019 23:20

BUZZ RYAN SPRINT - The 7th edition of this Island Lake race saw 110 athletes cross its finish line this morning (Sunday), starting with TODD STRUCKMAN, last year's runner-up.

2018's bronze medalist NATHAN WAECH took the silver this time around, nipping 3rd placer ANDREW BROADMORE by 13 seconds.

In the women's competition, ELAINE NELSON collected her sixth consecutive win here, and 19th W of her ten-year-old tri career.

Newly-minted master TARA MAKINEN made the most of her Buzz debut with a fine 2nd place finish, which came a week after her fast 3rd place effort at Timberman Sprint.

JENA OGSTON took the final women's podium spot, after placing 4th here in 2018 and 2017.

We thinks it's very cool that 61% of the finishers (67 women, 43 men) were women.

RESULTS ....

"Hormone Brain" and "Sticking it Out"...

Friday, 19 July 2019 23:10

By Hanna Grinaker (thfitspace.com)

You know that emoji with the person doing the face palm? That's me personified right now. I promised myself I wouldn't write a book, and well, that's exactly what I did. Grab a cup of coffee, or maybe have a couple of meals prepared, this could take you well into lunch.

A note about race recaps: I've always felt that they are hard to read. It's like watching your favorite Netflix series from episode one after they have just released the whole season. I am cool with watching one or two episodes to get a feel for what's going on, and then I kinda want to blow through the next 10 to get the actual POINT! Do you sense I have a wee bit of impatience? I swear this is an actual gift in many circumstances.

Anywho, with race recaps, I find myself reading faster or skipping over paragraphs to get to the punch line. "I don't care that you dropped a water bottle on the bike or had cramping at mile 38. HOW DID YOU ACTUALLY DO?!? ...

Mini-Previews: Bertram Blast, Turtleman, Moose Lake & Buzz Ryan....

Thursday, 18 July 2019 23:10

The two busiest racing weekends of the season are August 10-11, which has eight events, and next weekend (July 20-21), which has five. Twenty-nine percent of the adult outdoor tris / dus staged on Minnesota soil this year are on those two weekends.

Naturally, we worry that race attendances will suffer, and we'd hate to see more events fall off the calendar. (Thirty-eight races have been cancelled between 2014 and now.)...