Race Coverage

Spencer's Best Ever...

Monday, 11 August 2025 00:10

Photo - In order of height: Mitchell Clayton, Spencer Syvertson, Nicholas Jasmer

22nd NORTHWOODS TRIATHLON COVERAGE - We predicted that an unprecedented five guys would dip under the one-hour mark last Saturday at Northwoods. We were wrong. Sort of. This is because three of the predicted men were no-shows. The two that raced, though, raced brilliantly, starting with SPENCER SYVERTSON's Performance of the Year-level effort. He came into the race undefeated in four starts before turning in what was arguably his finest performance ever, thanks largely to his breakout DKT-like bike split (27 mph). When he arrived in T2 at just over the 38-minute mark, everyone watching knew that something special was happening. It became clear at that time that BROOKS GROSSINGER's 2014 course record--57:06--would finally be seriously challenged.

When Spencer came into view approaching the finish line, the crowd knew that Syvertson would come away, at the very least, with the second fastest time in race history. Syvertson dug deep, not allowing...

himself to settle for second best. His final time was 57:01, a five-second improvement on the standard set eleven years ago

Where was Brooks? Northwoods is a race he never misses, isn't it? He''s won eighteen of the prior twenty-one editions of this popular northland sprint event, breaking 60 minutes fourteen times. We're anxious to find out why he couldn't race in Nevis this year.

Also registered but missing were 2024 winner JOSH BLANKENHEIM, whose 58:26 was the fastest rookie effort ever on this course, until Spencer's debut performance last Saturday, and AJ MANNING, who scratched do to an injury. (AJ is awesome in the Scheels TV commercials!)

So, who was the other sub-1-hour guy? MITCHELL CLAYTON. His splits were outstanding across the board and his final time was 59:27, making him one of just six men to crack the one-hour mark here.

Rounding out the men's Top three was last year's silver medalist NICK JASMER, whose season-to-season improvement has been fun to track. In '24, his time was 1:03:34. His clocking last Saturday was 1:01:42. We definitely see sub-60s in his future at Northwoods.

CAMI ECKHOFF's return to defend his 2024 women's title was contingent upon her son's qualification for a specific golf tournament. He qualified and Cami handed the race over to three-time winner / 2024 runnerup CHERYL ZITUR, who at 60, can still throw down a sub-1:10. Her 1:09:52 gave her her fourth women's title and a new record for 60-64 woman. It also gave her a 3:34 margin of victory over second-placing KAITLYN VANDERKOLK, of Brentwood, Tennessee. Fergus Fall's numerous uno female triathlete JOELLEN KOHLMAN-PETRICK rounded out the women's podium.

Perfect weather, incredible volunteers and a large and enthusiastic finish line crowd greeted the 350ish participants in this year's race. Kudos to the Nancy Lewis and her team for producing another wonderful event.  RESULTS