Yesterday was the first running of the Maple Grove Triathlon. They had a sprint and an olympic distance (although the oly had a bike that was 2K longer than normal). The sprint was a .3 mile swim, a 14 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. The olympic was a .9 mile swim, a 26 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run. The race had SOLD OUT with around 500 athletes competing between the 2 events.
In the olympic distance, Devon Palmer (St. Paul) took the win by nearly 6 minutes in 2:00:07. Palmer had the fastest swim and bike, and then "eased" in with the 4th fastest run of 38:12. Chris Leiferman (Truman) came in second in 2:05:52. He gave up nearly 5 minutes to Palmer in the swim, and another few minutes on the bike, but made up some ground with a 10K averaging under 6:00 / mile. Third was Matt Liebsch (Maple Grove) with a time of 2:07:31. Like Leiferman, he gave up some time to Palmer in the swim and bike, but Liebsch had the fastest run split of the day to close within 2 minutes of second place. Fourth, fifth, and sixth were Brett Lovaas (Minnetonka), Jonathan Falkowski (Lakeville), and Jared Olhoft (Hugo).
In the female race, Minnesota's newest pro triathlete took the win. Cathy Yndestad (Apple Valley) was looking for a race after her good showing at the Leadville 100 Mile Mountain Bike race, so she raced Maple Grove and easily took the win in 2:13:35 (finishing 5th overall out of everyone!). Second was Julia Weisbecker (Mendota Heights) with a time of 2:21:06. Weisbecker was the first amateur and first Masters finisher. Just 2 seconds behind Weisbecker was Jan Guenther (Long Lake). Guenther was caught by Weisbecker on the run, who ran about a minute faster for her 10K. Fourth, fifth, and sixth were Jenny Wilcox (Cottage Grove), Diane Hankee (Lino Lakes), and Erin Farrens (Maple Grove).
Click here for the full results of the olympic distance.
Click here for the full results of the sprint distance.
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