Highlights from the 2013 Chisago Lakes Triathlon

Men
David Thompson has raced all over the nation. He’s won events nearly everywhere he goes. But, every year for the last half decade, he comes back to the Lakes area for the Chisago Lakes Triathlon and promptly wins it. This year, Thompson topped the field by nearly 12 minutes. He was the first triathlete out of the water after starting in the first wave, setting a mind-numbing pace for the rest of the competitors with a 25:28 swim time. Once on his bike, Thompson only picked up the pace, finishing the second part of the tri in 2:19.26. Thompson was flying through the 56 mile course at a 24.4 mile per hour pace. After struggling a bit at the transition to get into his running shoes because of the unusual chill in the air, Thompson crushed the competition on the running course, finishing the 13 mile run in 1:14:41, finishing a mile every 5:45. “For a race in July, I was freezing,” Thompson said after the event. “The windchill on the bike was uncomfortable. My feet and hands were numb and I lost some motor control.” Thompson is always around the four hour mark for the tri, and this one was no different. He finished in 4:01.52, again lacking any competitors to push him near the end. Because of that, Thompson hasn’t approached the record of 3:45 that he set a few years ago while winning the event. Thompson’s GearWest teammate Dan Hedgecock finished in second place for the second year in a row, finishing the race in 4:13:29, and Columbia Heights’ Matt Payne finished in third place for the second year in a row.

Women
After finishing in seventh place last year in the sprint distance, Diane Hankee of Lino Lakes decided to step up the distance and test her endurance against the top competitors. The gamble paid off as Hankee won the event with a time of 4:46:08. She just narrowly beat Jen Foley of Davenport, IA, who came in second place with a time of 4:46:42. Foley beat her out of the water, finishing the swim in 27:21. Hankee came out in 36:34, quite a bit off of the top competitors’ paces. Hankee shaved 30 seconds off of Foley’s lead in the first transition from the lake to the bike, and then the two had very similar bike times. Hankee finished in 2:37:16, taking another minute and a half off of Foley’s lead, who finished the bike course in 2:38:57. Again, Hankee took over 30 seconds off of Foley’s lead in the transition from the bike to the run, and that extra minute she earned in the transitions proved to be pivotal. In the run, Hankee slowly but surely crept up on Foley until she passed her in the last mile and held her off for the win. Hankee finished the run in 1:29:58 while Foley’s time was 1:36:56. The two competitors recounted their battle right past the finish line, with Foley even showing off a gruesome battle wound -- a large, deep blister on her foot from the run. Kortney Haag of Maple Grove wasn’t far behind the two, finishing third in the women’s division in 4:47:06.

Local Runners
Only seven local competitors finished the half triathlon this year. The top finisher was Sarah Zirkle of Wyoming. She finished in 89th place in a time of 5:05:42. Zirkle was the top finisher in her division, the womens 45-49. She had impressive times throughout, finishing the swim in 28:27, the bike in 2:49:50 and the run in 1:43:18. Chisago City’s Jon Lauritzen finished in 190th place with a time of 5:30:50. Stacy’s Sharon Peltier finished in 436th place with a time of 6:35:32. Joe Virga of Lindstrom completed the race in 6:48:51 in 452nd place. North Branch’s Catherine Ziegler finished in 7:00:20 in 471st place. Craig and Jill Timm both finished the race. Jill in 7:06:44 in 482nd place and Craig in 7:21:18 in 500th place.