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Men
After five years of the same champion under the old name, the newly-named Toughman Minnesota has now had two different champions in two different years.

Eric Engel won the race last year, but he wasn’t in the field this year, which opened the field again for the taking.

Golden Valley’s Matthew Payne seized the opportunity, winning the event in 4:13:56. He was a model of consistency, finishing in the top nine of each event, including a second place finish in the biking portion, which set him apart from his closest competitors.

Overall, he only beat Colorado resident Tim Hola by 49 seconds. Hola had the third fastest swim and the third fastest bike, but he lost seven minutes to Payne in the biking, which was the difference on the day.

Kristopher Spoth came in third place in the event, finishing in 4:15:44, just a minute behind Hola. Those three set the pace for the race, as no one came in for another seven minutes after them.

Sean Cooley, a Toughman Minnesota and Chisago Lakes Triathlon veteran, came in fourth place with a time of 4:33:10 and Tyler LeRoy of Plymouth, Wisconsin, came in fifth with a time of 4:22:57.

Women
After finishing in third place last year, Erin Hynndman-Farrens shaved almost eight minutes off  her 2015 time, en route to winning the 2016 Toughman Minnesota over defending champion Kelly Trom.

Hyndman-Farrens finished the 70.3 mile course in 4:49:07. Like Payne before her, she did most of her damage in the biking course, as she was the top female finisher in that event with a time of 2:28:55.

Her swim was actually near the middle of the pack, but the swim is the one event that doesn’t damage the competitors too much if they are a bit slower. The time can be made up once the racer hits land.

Hyndman-Farrens registered the fifth fastest run time on the day.

Trom, who was competing in only her second triathlon when she won in 2015, finished this year in 4:50:06, which was about five minutes slower than last year.

She was in the top eight in each event, finishing third in the bike, but it all added up to just a minute behind Hyndman-Farrens.

Sara Carlson of Brainerd came in third palce, just one minute behind Trom. Much like the guys’ race, the trio of Hyndman-Farrens, Trom and Carlson set the pace, all finishing just minutes apart before the fourth place finisher came in over six minutes behind.
Tiffany Kari of Duluth was that fourth place finisher, coming in at 4:57:14, a strong ending for her.

The fifth woman to cross the finish line was Kelli Moretter-Bue of Eden Prarie. She finished in 5:02:09.

Local Runners
From Cambridge to Lindstrom, there were nine local runners that participated in the Half Ironman race, and a few of them had some very impressive finishes.

Tops among them was Kyle Grabowska of Cambridge. He finished in 10th place overall with a time of 4:32:55

Aaron Wilson, who has been a mainstay in the top 20 for years, came in 13th place this year. The Forest Lake resident finished the course in 4:35:14.

Wyoming’s Sarah Zirkle finished in 92nd place in 5:16:36, winning her age division. As always, Zirkle was one of the fastest female swimmers, finishing the water course in 31:57.

Lindstrom’s John Lauritzen came in 104th place, and 18th in his age division. He finished the course in 5:20:28.

Jamie Erickson of Cambridge came in 262nd with a time of 6:02:43.

DJ Rodacker of Stacy wasn’t far behind, finishing the grueling course in 6:05:24.

North Branch’s Kyleen Harstedt finished in 349th place in 6:33:32. She was 20th in her age division.

Sharron Peltier, another Stacy resident, finished the course in 6:40:54, good enough for 354th place overall.

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