By Kevin Sjoberg
Sports Reporter
PRESQUE ISLE — Tri Aroostook, headquartered at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, featured a wide range of competitors.
There were the serious athletes, including Shawn Berry of Caribou and Sarah Gahagan of Presque Isle, who were able to defend their titles from 2012 in relatively easy fashion.
Then there were people who either wanted to “beat their buddies” or see how their times compared to last year’s inaugural event.
Some others used the triathlon to foster camaraderie
No matter what the reasons were for competing, a great majority of those participating appeared glad that they did, and that it what race director Jonathan Kelley says it’s all about.
Contributed photograph
FINISHES — Joe Ewings crosses the finish line of the Tri-Aroostook event held in Presque Isle. There were 122 participants from the serious competitor to the not so serious.
“To see people come across the finish line with their smiles, and seeing family and friends greeting them, that’s it for me,” Kelley said. “To swim, bike and run any distance is an accomplishment, and for a lot of people, this is their ironman triathlon and that is fabulous.”
Tri Aroostook consists of a 525-yard swim in the Gentile Hall pool, a 10.25-mile bike course which takes riders onto the Houlton Road then connecting them to the Spragueville and Chapman roads back to the university, and finally a 3.1-mile run in the fields and trails next to the campus.
Kelley said that 132 registered for the race, with approximately 122 actually showing up. The number of registrants marked nearly a 50-percent increase from last year.
Kelley said there were also increases in racers from downstate and across the board, noting that there was a strong contingent from the Kittery area, Portland, Old Town and New Brunswick, Canada.
Thirty nine females and 32 males completed all three stage of the triathlon by themselves, while 20 relay teams also took part.
Shawn Berry’s time of 56 minutes and 25.2 seconds was just under five minutes faster than runner-up Matt Cote of Mapleton in the men’s race, while Gahagan, at 1:06:39, was almost six minutes faster than Tracy Guerrette of St. Agatha in the women’s race.
Berry’s splits were 7:17.3 with the swim, which was the second fastest on the day; 28:55.1 on the bike, which was the fastest time; and 20:12.7 in the run, also the second fastest.
It didn’t go quite as smoothly for Gahagan, who ran into difficulty with cramps at the beginning of the run but persevered.
Gahagan’s splits were 9:19.7 with the swim, 33:25.2 on the bike and 23:54.1 in the run.
Hal Stewart of Presque Isle is just six years removed from hip replacement surgery. He biked as part of a relay team last year but decided to compete in all three stages this time around. He placed first in the 50-59 age division with a time of 1:12.07.
Other age division winners were: 19-and-under female: Amanda Parker of Perth-Andover, New Brunswick, 1:21:47; 20-29 female, Gahagan; 30-39 female, Guerrette; 40-49 female, Mitzi Skehan of Hermon, 1:20:33; 50-59 female, Julie Sterling of Caribou, 1:29:44.
In the Athena 39-and-under category, Jessica Pelletier of Edmundston, N.B. had a time of 1:25:55, while in the Athena 40-and-over class, Denise Landry Nadeau, also of Edmundston, was first in 1:19:07.
For the men, division winners included: 19-and-under male: Dustin Drabek of Presque Isle, 1:06:39; 20-29 male, no competitors; 30-39 male, Berry; 40-49 male, Duane Hart of Presque Isle, 1:07:03; 60-69 male, Chip Loring of Old Town, 1:19:54; and 70-and-79 male, Richard Nichols of Fort Fairfield, 2:20:57.
In the Clydesdale 39-and-under division, Toby Plummer of Mapleton came in at 1:15:41 to take the top spot.
The winning relay team was Pine Tree Legal, which consisted of swimmer Alexis Coiley, cyclist Stephen Higgins and runner Jeff Ashby. Their time was 1:01:32. They defeated the S.W. Collins trio, who came in at 1:04:56.
The sister combination of Erin Argraves, Anna Osgood and Katie Delong, treated the event as an opportunity to be teammates on a rare occasion.
“There is an eight-year gap between Anna and I and 10 years between Katie and I, so we never got to be teammates going through school,” said Erin Argraves, “so the best part is that we finally can say we did something together athletically.”
Osgood was the one who initiated it as she was at her home in Charleston, S.C., searching the Internet to see if there were any triathlons in Maine offered during the summer. She was pleased to find one right in their hometown.
Al Condon of Presque Isle was part of a three-generational group of family members who relished the chance to spend time with his granddaughters.
He handled the cycling stage, while one of his granddaughters, Rachel Condon of Yarmouth, did the swim and another, Tessa Condon of Bangor, was the runner.
His significant other, Cathy Donovan, also competed on a relay team, as did his son, Chris, daughter-in-law, Denise, and other granddaughter, Abby.
