Believe it or not, the big guy and the big blue cow in the photo here are NOT real. Amazing detail and biological correctitudinousness, huh!

Whoever crafted these totally lifelike replicas of Paul Bunyan (of Brawny Towels fame) and Babe the Blue Ox ("Ox" is Ojibwe for "Big Cow") was a true master of the sculptorial arts. Mike D'Angelo, Ro-Dan and Leonardo Da Caprio--considered by many to be the greatest stone chiselers of all time--got nothing on this guy!

Who is he?....

After 14 Bichful years, the Brewhouse Triathlon will be a Bich-Free Zone on Sunday, August 1. It's gonna feel strange.

Since the turn of the century, Duluth family man / college professor / stud triathlete Brian Bich has won 40 races, was named US Master of the Year (2008) and collected nine MMAs, four for Triathlete of the Year. His first of nine victories at Brewhouse was turned in in 1998.

Soft spoken and classy, Brian has been both the face and the soul of this great race. A perfect poster boy, if such a poster were...

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Waseca, Minnesota, home of the Waseca 1/3 Iron & Sprint triathlons, is a wonderfully quaint community.

It promulgates its "Old World" charm via the steadfast resistance to all forms of modernization. It's fire department (photo), for instance, looks much the same today as it did in the Lincoln era. Sure, departmental response time is unimpressive and an inordinate number of local homes and businesses have burned down over the decades, not to mention the fact that the streets (cobblestone, of course) are terminally littered with horsey poop, but such is a small price to pay for pastoral charisma.

Continuing the yesteryearish theme, Waseca doesn't have a mayor or city council (but it does have an old fashioned butterfly net-wielding dog catcher!)...

July 31 Last Day to Register for YWCA Women’s Tri!

A Letter From Paul...

MN Tri News crew ... I’ve been meaning to touch base for some time now but the YW crew and I have been a tad busy getting the YWCA Women’s Tri ready for its new venue at Lake Nokomis. First, the big news for all to know is that July 31 will be the LAST day to register. If anyone is on the fence...

After 14 Bichful years, the Brewhouse Triathlon will be a Bich-Free Zone on Sunday, August 1. It's gonna feel strange.

Brewhouse Preview will be posted on Thursday morning...BHT WEBSITE

Have you ever heard of elephantine Polish entrepreneur Colezslau Growleroski? A lover of cabbage and beer, he is responsible for two of the greatest inventions of our time: Cole slaw and Growlers. If it wasn't for this gluttonous genius,...

Sooooooo much about Sunday's Chisago Lakes Triathlon(s) was impressive, and not just basic stuff, like DKT's sub-4 hour winning time, or Patrick Parish's and Jenny Wilcox's crushings of the race records in the sprint. That's really good stuff, though.

What else was there to be impressed with then, you ask?

How about how downright maturishly Ross Weinzierl and Joanna Hall handled their misfortunes. Ross was kicking tush when he was forced to DNF. How did he handle it? With an understanding shrug of the shoulders, a big smile--which is a ubiquitous part of his extroverted signature--and the clear understanding that there will be other opportunities.

You thoroughly impressed us, Ross. (See photo on next page. Ross is the tall smiley guy on the left.)

Poor pretty Joanna. Two flats and more than a half hour of..

By Bob Seehobar

It’s getting warmer! Heat, sometimes combined with humidity depending on where you live, can throw you a good curve ball during these summer months of training and competition. We have all heard stories about athletes being taken to the hospital during a race for dehydration, or collapsing before the finish line or seeing white spots with a tongue feeling like sandpaper. I will say that those are extreme cases and ones that can be easily prevented with a little know-how nutrition for the heat know-how.

Sweat rate can increase up to 2-3 times in hot conditions. The risk of developing a heat illness increases dramatically and the body processes nutrients differently when the thermostat is turned up. All of these can lead to lousy training sessions or DNF’s during competitions.

Use the following nutrition recommendations to make your next quality training session or race in hot and possibly humid conditions a more successful venture.

Goal #1: Hydrate correctly. This is one of the toughest goals because it sounds so easy to..

What do you know about Fergus Falls, Minnesota?

Not much, huh?

We know lotsa stuff about it. It's a town. It's in Minnesota and the Hoot Lake Triathlon (photo) is there. Or somewhere near there?

What else?

Did we say mention that it's somewhere in Minnesota? And that it's a town?

Realizing that we don't know too darn much about Fergus Falls, we Googled it. Here's some totally cool historical stuff we found:

"In 1857, Wiley Cloversheets * was sent by his employer, Langford Fergus* , to locate a site for a new community. Along the way he...

Defending world champion Timothy O’Donnell is among the seven elite athletes and more than 50… Read

In conjunction with the 2010 Rocky Mountain State Games, nearly 70 of the United States’ top… Read

Today marks exactly two years until the start of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, and USA… Read

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has affected all aspects of life along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline… Read

USA Triathlon annual memberships purchased in August – both new and renewals – will earn… Read