To say that Chris Prescher is still recovering from last week’s Minnesota Border to Border Triathlon would be an understatement.

On Wednesday, he had reconstructive surgery on his broken nose and shoulder.

“I crashed out on the first day,” Prescher said.

Even with Prescher out of the four-day, 500-mile race (but along for the ride), his team, which included fellow Mankato-area residents Todd Coyour, Dennis Ellingson and Mike Cullen finished second in the four-team division.

“We wanted to be on the podium,” Prescher, 37 said. “I thought we put together a team that would finally secure it.”

Prescher’s team was one of two with Mankato ties in this year’s race. Maple Grove native and Minnesota State University senior Chris Yard and brothers Joe and Mike on a three-man team with parents Joe and Cindy working as support.

The Border to Border isn’t for the weak — physically or, especially, Yard said, mentally.

The race began July 22 in Luverne and ended July 25 on Crane Lake, near the Canadian border.

Day 1 involves a 217-mile bike from downtown Luverne to St. Cloud. Starting off at 6 a.m., the average finish time was 10 hours.

Day 2 is another 10-hour bike ride — 213 miles from St. Cloud to Virginia.

Day 3 is a 50-mile run from Eveleth to Cook, with most runners finishing in about four hours.

Finally, Day 4 is a 50-mile canoe from Cook to Crane Lake, via Lake Vermilion and the Vermilion River. The 121⁄2-hour trip includes 11 portages, some up to 1 mile long.

“Your whole body is just destroyed,” Yard said. “But the whole race is pretty much all mental. ... You learn to push you rbody to its limit and keep it there.”

Of course, that only begs one question to the competitors:

Why?