Montauk Pioneer - June 19, 2009

Who knew that all of this could happen before 10 a.m.? Loud music blasting from roadside speakers, people milling up and down West Lake Drive, hundreds of cars lining the road, police directing traffic, oh yeah, and swimming 1 mile, biking 19.2 miles and running 6 miles.

Several hundred people showed up in Montauk last Saturday morning to take part in the Robert J. Aaron Mighty Montauk Triathlon. "A celebration of life, fitness and health...and just a damn good time" said Chris Pfund, the Tri-Guy himself and owner of the Montauk Bike Shop who was emcee for the day. He entertained the spectators and athletes with a running commentary of the race and also spoke about the history of the event. This race, Pfund told us, which began in 1981, is the oldest continuous long-distance triathlon in the world.

"Bob was a pioneer," Pfund said of Aaron," he figured out what all of the distances should be." The race, which now has its starting- and finishing-lines on West Lake Drive, originally took place in the village, right off 27. Pfund announced over the loudspeaker that he had just spoken to a woman who had done the triathlon back in 1984 and that her son was competing in the same race 25 years later.

This family-feel was a recurring theme throughout the day. Mrs. Rabin from Bayshore, New York was helping sell t-shirts to aid the Schneider Children's Hospital.

"The race is so great," she said, "it's a chance for the whole family to get together and do something active." She told me that her five sons, two grandsons and her daughter-in-law were all competing in the triathlon. She continued, telling me that there were 48 people in their team, 23 of whom were family members. It wasn't just the Rabin family who were out showing support for each other; the roads the race took place on were jam-packed with families and friends shouting words of support to passers-by and waving signs encouraging parents, children, cousins, uncles, et cetera.

Before the race began, the "transition area" (the little triangle of grass in between West Lake Marina and Snug Harbor) was filled with competitors getting ready: putting on their wetsuits, strategically placing their shoes and helmets to be easily accessible after the swim, and making sure their bikes and tires were all set and ready-to-go. The adrenaline and excitement were overpowering. Not only were people enthusiastic to get started, but everyone was smiling, waving to other competitors, laughing and generally just having a great time.

At 7:30 the race began with the 1-mile swim in Lake Montauk, which the first person finished in about twenty minutes. After gliding seemingly effortlessly through the 50-some degree waters of Lake Montauk, the athletes ran to the "transition area," stripped off their wetsuits, grabbed energy bars and jumped on their bicycles and sped off to begin the longest leg of the race, the 22-mile cycle on an absolutely gorgeous, but what must be an unbelievably exhausting, course. After biking across Montauk, did the participants stop and take a breather? Oh no they did not. They dropped off their bicycles, put on their sneakers and continued to complete the final part of the race, the 6-mile run.

After 1 hour, 50 minutes and 46.9 seconds of grueling exercise, the first of the athletes finished. At 46, Bill Kelly of Chatham, New Jersey, is the oldest person ever to win the RJA Memorial Mighty Montauk Triathlon. He had done this race twenty years in a row placing each position from 2nd to 10th. He came in 2nd in 2007 and after a year's break, came back this Saturday to win it, once and for all. He said he was neck-in-neck, struggling to get past his training partner, Andrew Kalley, 26, during the run but managed to make a surge at the 2-mile mark and maintained that lead until the end of the race. Kalley, from New York City, came in 2nd place with a time of 1:51:32.3. Both he and Kelly described one another as "machines." "I don't know how he does it," Kalley said of his training partner. Both of the men are with the team Full Throttle, who train at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. In 3rd place was 35-year-old Muehmel Takao of Wantagh, New York, whose time was 1:53:22.0.

In 27th place overall, 28-year-old Allison Lind, from New York City was the first woman to finish the race at 2:04:59.4. Lind, also a member of Full Throttle, was originally a marathon runner, but began swimming after an injury last year and is now competing in her first triathlon season. The RJA Memorial Montauk Triathlon, which she said was "a really tough course," was her first ever olympic race. In second place in the women's division was Kristin Budden of Rye Brook, New York. This was 31-year-old Budden's 4th year competing in this triathlon. She has joined the "Target Training" team in West Port and bought a new bike since coming in 3rd in last year's race. In third place in the women's division was Kristie Timmer, 28, of Long Beach, New York. She finished the race in 2:09:07.1. This was Timmer's first year back on the Montauk course after a knee operation last year.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in the triathlon, and I speak on behalf of all of my fellow couch-potatoes, it was a truly awe-inspiring experience. Well done.