Race Coverage

Great Racing in Baxter....

Wednesday, 27 August 2025 00:10

25th LAKES COUNTRY TRIATHLON COVERAGE - MATA AGRE was anxious to race at Sprint Nationals, but they were canceled. Bummer!  JOSH BLANKENHEIM was anxious to race at Northwoods but his babysitter bailed at the last second. Bummer!

A few weeks later, Mata and Josh took out their frustration on their respective fields at Lakes Country, as each won by corpulent margins.

Temps barely nudged over 50 at the start of the race, but it felt even cooler thanks to relentless winds. Thankfully, the lake was 20+ degrees warmer than the air.

A second wave starter, it nevertheless didn't take long for Josh to push to the front  of the pack on the bike. The rest of his race was spent alone. He didn't need to push, but he did anyway. He had plenty of time to recover after he finished before the next athlete crossed the line. His time was 58:46. Half of the event's Top 10 fastest times are his.

Second across was first-waver NOLAN SNYDER, 16, who turned in a strong 1:04:42, which fares very well next to the best times for junior boys on this course. Making his effort even more impressive was...

the fact that he raced in a high school cross country meet the day before. He had raced here two years earlier and his time was 1:07, which clearly demonstrates significant improvement, especially given the conditions.

Could Nolan hold onto 2nd place? Or would a second-waver slip into the silver medal position?

It would be the latter. DAVID LEWIS, who, in order this season, placed 5th at Average Jo, then 4th at Northwoods, then 3rd at Young Life Olympic, took the runner-up spot on Sunday. His time was 1:03:34, which despite the windiness was only 22-seonds off the 50-54 course record.

In striking distance for the win in the first two phases, it was Mata's run that set her apart from the rest of the women's field. The three-time Northwoods winner's victorious time was 1:13:43, which gave her a 3:43 victory over repeat runnerup LISA HINES, who is undefeated in her AG (60-64W) this season.

ELIZABETH WIESE (MinnCam.com photo) finished 3rd. What do we know about her? We are only aware of one other tri performance, which was an 8th place finish at Brewhouse Olympic in 2024. An avid runner, we encourage her to keep tri-ing.

The event was very well designed and executed, and provided an excellent experience for the 146 athletes who participated. RESULTS