(Photos: Top - Cathy Lee with hubby Terry at Nawlin's 70.3 last season. Her 3rd at GW today was nothing short of awesome! Below - And speaking of awesome, Patrick Parish took top amateur honors and placed 2nd overall behind seven-time GW winner DKT.)Gear West Du view from the bike in & out...
By Heidi Keller-Miler
Assigned the task of taking splits from the transition bike in and out affords a nice view of the race especially when your partner is doing all of the work (thanks Sarah Foley!).
As always this race brings out a stellar field and is fun to see who is on their game early in the year and what new multi-sporters are joining the fray and going to be the next big names on the scene.
DKT had some serious competition on the first run and didn’t have much of a lead going onto the bike but must have crushed on the bike as he came into t2 with a sizeable lead that left no doubt about his taking the victory. And he has really smoking fast transitions! He barely even slows the bike before hopping off in full stride….cool to watch.
After David a couple of guys all kind of came in around the same time, Patrick Parrish, Chad Millner and Brooks G along with a few other guys who I didn’t recognize but was impressed to see them up there with that crew. (assuming those guys I didn’t recognize are Josh R and Josh B, maybe Matt Liebsch who finished a very solid 4 & 7, 8 very nice races!).
My main thought watching those guys is if you want to win at the elite level around here and you don’t run a 15-16 min 5k (on the road) you are in trouble as there are a number of of guys who can just plain run FAST!
I think the women’s field was about as good as it gets, the amount of races during the summer tends to spread the fields out and the next time you will see this many fast women assembled will be at LTF or Turtleman. No surprise that Jenny Wilcox led off the first run, her biking is fast too, very impressive for being relatively new to the sport. As expected Cathy caught her on the bike and managed to put some distance there, she had a decent lead into transition probably about 40-50 seconds. Cathy Lee had a great ride to pull into T2 in second, she looks super fit and really rocked the bike, Julie H pulled in 3rd with the fastest bike split of the day and Jenny followed a moment behind.
This is one tough course and can really kick your butt for the first race of the year.
Assigned the task of taking splits from the transition bike in and out affords a nice view of the race especially when your partner is doing all of the work (thanks Sarah Foley!).
As always this race brings out a stellar field and is fun to see who is on their game early in the year and what new multi-sporters are joining the fray and going to be the next big names on the scene.
Here are some very basic observations between the timing splits, it was hard to see the finish from where we were but I did wander over to check out the women’s finish.
DKT had some serious competition on the first run and didn’t have much of a lead going onto the bike but must have crushed on the bike as he came into t2 with a sizeable lead that left no doubt about his taking the victory. And he has really smoking fast transitions! He barely even slows the bike before hopping off in full stride….cool to watch.
After David a couple of guys all kind of came in around the same time, Patrick Parrish, Chad Millner and Brooks G along with a few other guys who I didn’t recognize but was impressed to see them up there with that crew. (assuming those guys I didn’t recognize are Josh R and Josh B, maybe Matt Liebsch who finished a very solid 4 & 7, 8 very nice races!).
Patrick put on the jets and ran to second place with the 2nd fastest run, Brooks took 3rd which gives him two great races to start the year. Devin looked like he would have liked a longer bike and Anton put together a very nice all around effort for 9th, no comment on that first transition though – looked like something I would do.
My main thought watching those guys is if you want to win at the elite level around here and you don’t run a 15-16 min 5k (on the road) you are in trouble as there are a number of of guys who can just plain run FAST!
I think the women’s field was about as good as it gets, the amount of races during the summer tends to spread the fields out and the next time you will see this many fast women assembled will be at LTF or Turtleman. No surprise that Jenny Wilcox led off the first run, her biking is fast too, very impressive for being relatively new to the sport. As expected Cathy caught her on the bike and managed to put some distance there, she had a decent lead into transition probably about 40-50 seconds. Cathy Lee had a great ride to pull into T2 in second, she looks super fit and really rocked the bike, Julie H pulled in 3rd with the fastest bike split of the day and Jenny followed a moment behind.
Cathy Y ‘s run is getting stronger every year and she had no problem holding on for the win. Jenny pulled up to 2nd followed by CL and Julie. Jan won the masters with another amazing race, she is always in the mix year in and year out.
Tony took the masters title for the men and finished 11th overall. Jan and Tony are both over 50 so that is ridiculous how fast they are and how high they place in the open competition – I honestly don’t think either has any intention of ever slowing down!
This is one tough course and can really kick your butt for the first race of the year.
Congrats to everyone who raced! - HKM
COMMENT: Love your shorthand, Heidi. We recommend that readers who are not on a first-name or "initials" basis with Minnesota's elite, check the results. RESULTS
About Heidi Keller-Miler - Heidi is a member of the Minnesota Multisport Awards Selection Committee and a former professional triathlete. She was named MN Master of the Year in 2007 and is a perennial member of Team Minnesota. She's 45 and gets injured a lot. Her favorite beer is Stella Artois. She LOVES donuts and is a total HOOT!
