by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
A Bloomington man broke a record time to win the Sartell Apple Duathlon last Saturday.
Patrick Parish, 27, outpaced all of nearly 300 competitors to cross the finish line with a time of 1:21-04. He shaved off 27 seconds from the record set last year by Dan Hedgecock of St. Paul.
The female winner of Saturday’s event was Ruth Brennan Morrey, 37, of Rochester, with a time of 1:30:26. Brennen Morrey also broke a Sartell Duathlon record for fastest time ever for the top female winner of the race. She topped the record of 1:32:23 set in 2007 by Marlo McGaver of Duluth.
The 30th annual Sartell Apple Duathlon began at 8:30 a.m. with chilly windy weather under a storm-threatening sky. By about mid-race for most of the runners-bikers, torrential rains began to fall, and most runners crossed the finish line drenched and soggy from the rain. There were no complaints, however, as duathlon participants have come to expect any kind of weather from fair to foul.
This year, nearly 50 Sartell residents participated in the race, which involves a 5k run, a 33k bike race and another 5k run. Two well-known residents once again ran-biked the course – State Rep. Tim O’Driscoll and Sartell-St. Stephen Superintendent Joe Hill. O’Driscoll finished 17th in his age category, 45-49, and 151st overall with a time of 2:18:51. Hill, with a time of 1:25:56 was the 19th duathlete to cross the finish line and the winner in his age category, 40-44.
Many Sartell residents finished in the top 10 and top 20 of the various categories. For example, Jesse Westrup finished the race in 10th place overall with a time of 1:30:54. He was also tops in his age category, males 35-39. Adam Konscewski finished 20th with a time of 1:36:15.
The following is a list of Sartell residents who placed individually in the race:
Gregory Cooley, 57, second place in the males 55-59 category. Time: 1:54:28.
Judy Murray, first place (2:03:26); and Lorrie Oistad, third place (2:10:34) in females 50-54.
Chad Lemke, second place (1:36:24) in males 40-44.
Erin Lemke, third place (1:53:55) in females 40-44.
Joan Karpel, third place (2:10:56), in females 45-49.