TWO VOTES FOR CHISAGO...

Rochester's Joe and Ann Moyer (pictured) explain why they hope that the Chisago Lakes Triathlon wins the 2009 Triathletes Choice Race of the Year:

"Ann and I consider Chisago our favorite MN race this year. We are partial to the events that Gloria West runs, as we also attended the Paper Discovery Duathlon, and the High Cliff Triathlon (Half for me, sprint for Ann). Every event I have attended that Gloria has run has always been top notch. We will be racing at the Green Bay Duathlon soon, as well as the Osceola Duathlon. Ann has family in the Green Bay/Appleton Wisconsin area, so it works out well for us when we head over to the eastern side of Wisconsin to race.

"The Chisago Triathlon is held in one of my favorite areas of the state. We always like to make a weekend out of it, and head over to Taylor's Falls and see the sights the day before the race. This year, the State Time Trial 40k Championship was actually the day before Chisago, so I raced that also. It was just south of Chisago City, in Scandia, so it worked out quite well. The finish area for Chisago is in a very nice park, and I really enjoyed the bike route, with it's scenic undulating terrain. Most of the roads on the bike course were in very good shape, making it easy to settle into a nice rhythm and ride a good bike split. The run for the Half can be pretty hot in areas as it is pretty exposed. I actually kinda enjoyed the heat, as I knew I had to get used to it in my preparation for Ironman Wisconsin. There are a lot of locals that stay outside of their houses cheering you on and spraying you down with water to help you through the run.

"It is nice that there are two race distance options at Chisago, with the Half and Sprint distances, enabling more people to race, making the event larger. The field at Chisago this year was amazing, with many talented athletes. The course itself is always very fast, and my Garmin showed that bike was around 1 mile short, but even if you adjusted times accordingly, I still set my Half Ironman PR of 4:24 at Chisago this year.

"We are already looking forward to Chisago next year!"

What was your favorite Minnesota multi this year? We'd love to share your stories. - jerry.bous@gmail.com