Friday, June 17, 2011

Yes/No: Gabrielson and Houck in Top-12?

Grandma's Marathon celebrates its 35th anniversary this weekend. The usual running races will occur including the William A. Irvin 5k tonight followed by the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon early Saturday morning and concluding with the main event, Grndma's Marathon - 26.2 miles along Lake Superior.

13.1 Mpls

Although Minnesota native Chris Raabe won the race in 2009, a Minnesota resident has not won Grandma's Marathon since 1991. There are a number of top contenders from Minnesota hoping to change that this year.

For our questions, we will look at a veteran on the men's side and a relative newcomer on the women's side this week...

Yes/No: Will Matt Gabrielson and Jennifer Houck both finish in the top twelve in their respective races at Grandma's Marathon on Saturday?

Matt Gabrielson has run his three previous marathons in times between 2:17:30 and 2:20. Gabrielson ran 2:17:38 for second place in the USA Marathon Championships in 2008. In the 2009 World Championships, he ran 2:18:41 in Germany and placed thirty-six.

In 2011, Gabrielson has won some local road races as well as finishing 5th at the USA 25K Championships. Gabrielson's half marathon best is from 2010 when he ran 1:03:44 at the USA Champs.

Jennifer Houck has run faster in each of her marathoners. She debuted with a 2:47 effort and since then has run 2:39, 2:37 and 2:34. Her last marathon was run this April at the Boston Marathon. Houck finished 18th at Boston and was the fourth American woman.

In 2011, Jennifer Houck has made her name as a top competitor in USA Championships. She finished 11th at the USA 1/2 Marathon Championship, 9th at the USA 15K Champs and 5th at the USA 25K Championship.

The field is filled with Kenyan, Russian and American elites and especially heavy with top masters runners. Houck was given number #13 for the race and Gabrielson #20.

To play our game, simply type "yes" or "no" into the subject line of an e-mail and send it to us at DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com before 7:30 A.M. CDT, Saturday, June 18th. Please put your answers in the subject line of the e-mail and make sure your full name appears somewhere in the e-mail. We will offer our usual bonus for participants making their 2011 debut in Yes/No - a correct answer will be worth two points for anyone who has not played yet this year.

My answer: Yes.

Last week's question was: Yes/No: Will three or more University of Minnesota individuals or relay teams finish in the top eight and earn All-American honors at the National Meet this week? The Gophers had a great year but a rough National Meet. No U of M athlete finished in the top eight in 2011.

It was a tough question for Yes/No players as well. Only eight people answered correctly this week. Lori Anne Peterson answered correctly and has seven points in the last six weeks. She is the overall leader with fifteen points. Chris Rivers continues of streak of correct answers this year and is tied with two others for second with fourteen points.

For all the results, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner, HERE.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never got the email today.... I sent one to you, did you get it? Lori Anne Peterson

Doug said...

The answer was yes this week.

Matt Gabrielson was sixth in 2:13 and Jennifer Houck placed fifth in 2:33.