What A Weekend!!

I don't really even know where to begin... so I'll tell the stories as we read a book - from top to bottom - from North to South!

Up north - Newly pinked, Jana Severson, traveled to the Lifetime Fitness Olympic Distance Triathlon on Saturday the 12th of July. Entered in the Elite category, she was matched up with 76 of the Midwests finest ameture triathletes. After the 1500m swim, she found herself as 16th Elite female - and duked it out on the twisting, tight...and windy bike portion - with, ironically, Mackenzie Madison - a local ZOOM Performance coach and athlete! The two kept it close together for the rest of the race, with Mackenzie finishing in 14th and Jana in 15th in a time of 2:23 - and only seconds apart!

Jana is in training for the World Duathlon Championships to be held in Italy on September 27th of this year - and appears to be coming into great form. Next on her agenda is the Steelhead 1/2 Ironman Championship on August 2nd. Congratulations and Good Luck!

A bit further south, in Clear Lake, Kim Hopkins, Dee Mable, Kristin Pavlovitch and Joann Schmidt took on the "juggernaut" of PRC in the Clear Lake Criterium on Saturday afternoon and Clear Lake Road Race on Sunday Morning. At stake was not only the finish of each race, but the Iowa Cup Championship - culminating on Sunday.

Dee started the day in first of active Cat 4 Women - followed by Kristin Reese, (of All9yards) and then Chris Maravelis (of PRC). As Kristin was not able to race this weekend, it was up to Dee to defend her lead - and had the full support of pink (and green)for the weekend.

The Criterium started fast, with Chris attacking from the gun in the 20 min race. She quickly gained a 3-4 block lead and settled into her strong time trial mode. Kim, Kristin and Joann mounted a chase, splintering the field, eventually leaving Dee with Maria Rutenburg (PRC) and Kristin Gallager (PRC) in tow. A moments hesitation gave Kristin the opportunity to attack Dee and put a gap on her, leaving Dee to chase the rest of the way, with Maria on her wheel. With the final straight looming to the finish, Dee put her head down sprinting against Maria for the important 3rd place points, beating her by mere inches.

Iowa Cup standings: Dee, 34 points; Chris, 32 points.... It was to come down to the Road Race to determine who would wear the Iowa Cup jersey!

A very windy day greeted the field of 12 Cat 4 Women for thier 42 mile road race. They mostly stayed together throughout the race, with an interuption of a two person crash about 8 miles into the race. The field waited and rode slowly for a bit, giving the crash victims some time to recover. The wind also played a major role in keeping the group together, though pink was active in putting forth some attacks to try and split the field. Kristin Pavlovich was instrumental in driving the train and ensuring Dee was well protected!

PRC was quick to react to each attack and close each gap - and going into the final 3.5 mile tailwind straight to the line, there were 10 women all together. That didn't last long as Chris, having patiently waited her time, put forth a strong attack. Kim and Joann were first on the scene, covering the attack and making it to Chris' wheel. Kim did her work to close the gap, and eventually pulled off to let Joann duke it out with Chris. Back in the pack, Dee found herself mid pack with 1/2 mile to go. Knowing it meant the Iowa Cup... or not... she dug deep and with a generous lead-out from fellow Leadville 100 participant (2008) Kat Porter (Bike Tech, Dee closed the gap on Chris and Joann as they all neared the line. Joann lept around Chris with 200 to go and Dee powered by a spent Chris, who'd put all her energy into her very strong attack - they finished 1 and 2 with Chris in 3rd and Kristin Gallager (PRC) in 4th. Kim finished in 7th and Kristin Pavlovich finished in 9th.

With her win over Chris, Dee takes the Iowa Cup and ALL9Yards takes 1-2 in a very exciting road race!

We're not done yet - keep reading!!!

A bit further south, in Ogden, Kristin Rinderknecht and her son, Josh, raced in the Iowa Games Triathlon. Kristin, having great form as the result of her Ironman training, put the hurt on the competition finishing first among all women! She appears to be on track for her big summer goal of competing in the Ironman Florida this November! Her (and Speedy Reedy's) son Josh competed in his first ever triathlon, and, like father and mother... like son - Josh won his 15 and under age group! Hey JJ and TJ - watch out for this kid, his name has a 'J' in it too!!!

We'd like to congratulate Kristin, Josh, Dee, Jana, Kim, Kristin and Joann for a great weekend of racing - and thank all who made it possible:

Bike World and LeMond Bicycles for the equipment support!
Zanzibars for the great coffee!
Cumming Tap for the financial support!
Whitewater Consulting and Schneiders Auto Service for the financial support
Zoom Performance for the coaching help!
True Life Chiropractic for keeping us straight!

...and of course, our team-mates who make this all so fun!

Finally - the best is saved for last -
Thursday, July 10, the pink team grew by 1! Sherri and Steve Robinson welcomed into this world, thier latest, a little girl, Keaghlan! Mom, baby, sister - and Dad are all doing well! Congratulations!!!

OK - I am done - you can go on with whatever you were doing!