Allen Heights Veterinary Repeats as Josh Billings Runaground Champ
LENOX, Mass. -- Hundreds of amateur athletes Sunday won the 46th Josh Billings Runaground Triathlon where, as the motto goes, "To finish is to win."
The day's fastest finishers featured familiar names as the four-man team from Allen Heights Veterinary was the first across the finish line at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac, which took over this year from Tanglewood as the triathlon terminus.
As usual, teams headed out from downtown Great Barrington for a 27-mile bike ride to the boat launch at the Stockbridge Bowl, where pedalers gave way to paddlers for a 5-mile spring around the lake. The final leg of the event is a 6-mile run.
Athletes compete in teams of two, three or four or for the particularly hearty souls (and soles) in the Ironman and Ironman and Ironperson divisions.
The first soloist across the finish line on Sunday was Janda Ricci-Munn, 38, who completed the trip in 2 hours, 31 minutes, 45 seconds.
That was 17:23 behind the defending championship team of bicyclist Josh Lipka, canoists Tom Keefe and Bin Pigott and runner Steve Monsulick, who came in in 2:14:22, five minutes ahead of what the same quartet accomplished last September.
Allen Heights Veterinary was followed by the team from the Arcadian Shop. Tom Spencer, Joel Pikosz/Chris Weaver and Wouter Hoogkamer finished in 2:24:12, just less than 10 minutes out of first place.
The first Ironman to the field at Mah-Kee-Nac ws Denis Paul, who finished in 2:44:14.
The event features dozens of divisions based on the number of members in a team, their ages, their genders and their choice of conveyance around Stockbridge Bowl, which can include canoes, kayaks or paddleboards.
Complete results, when available, will be posted at www.joshbillings.com.
Video: Slightly controlled chaos at the Stockbridge Bowl, where bicyclists transition to paddlers at the Josh Billings RunAground Triathlon.
