GREENFIELD — In the weeks leading up to the 35th running of the Greenfield Lightlife Triathlon, it seemed the weather was either hot and humid, rainy, or both. On Sunday, the 355 race participants were spared torrential rains, but got served a harsh dose of hot and humid.
That’s just what the doctor ordered, though, for perennial favorite JoEllen Reino, of South Deerfield, who grew up in Virginia. “It’s such a short and sweet season up here,” she said. “I’ll take it.”
Take it she did — Reino walked away from the sprint rendition of the triathlon with her fourth straight title and a record five total wins. She finished the feat in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 21 seconds. She broke a tie with Don Dwight, who finished first four times.
“I was happy with how I performed and then whatever the results were, it took care of itself,” Reino said, after claiming her award to the cheers of the many familiar faces in the stands at the Green River Swimming & Recreation Area. She beat out Northampton’s Tara Strassburg (1:17:09) by 48 seconds.
“Certainly with this heat, I don’t know where she gets her energy from,” race director Christy Moore said. “She’s just fun to watch and I think she has fun competing, which is why I think she’s so successful.”
Reino spent most of her time talking about everyone else in the field, which can feel like a community event even though it attracts talent from across the state and a handful of participants from across the country.
She mentioned she saw a lot of new faces this year in what was one of the biggest events in its history, something the founder of the triathlon Chris Ethier, also noted about the growth of the longest continuous triathlon in New England.
“It’s like having children,” said Ethier (1:38:38), who also owns Greenfield’s Bicycle World and finished second in the 70-plus age category for the Sprint. “You want them to flourish. It’s one thing I’m particularly proud of.”
This year’s competitors had varying views of how the course ran, although most saw the water in the Green River as cool, and on the back half choppy. By the time they made their transitions to the bike portion, it began to heat up with the sun completely out for the third and final leg, the run.
The triathlon has two races, the Sprint, which is a 0.31-mile swim, a 15.14-mile bike and a 3.09-mile run, and the longer course, the International, which is a 0.63-mile swim, a 30.28-mile bike and a 7.09-mile run.
The top-three of the men’s side of the Sprint were separated by about 36 seconds. The winner was Robert Hollinger, of Newburyport, who finished in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 30 seconds. Amherst’s Owen Wright (1:04:34) came in four seconds behind. Both of them ran the final leg’s 5K with a sub 6-minute mile pace.
Reigning champ Jay Gump, of Conway, came in third in the men’s Sprint, despite outperforming the top-two finishers in the swim and bike. Gump completed the run in 19 minutes, 12 seconds, more than two minutes slower than Hollinger.
Greenfield’s Dan Bensen, who was defeated by Gump last year after spending two years on top, fell to fifth.
“I would say this is probably the strongest field we’ve ever had,” said Bensen (1:11:03). “The guys we had in the top three were ridiculous.”
Bensen said the swim was tough, with a stiff current in the second half, and a bit of a cooler water.
Although it’s always a game-time decision of whether the swim portion will pass triathlon guidelines, since testing must be done 72 hours before the race, this year the choice came a little closer to tipoff.
Moore announced Saturday they were officially good to go for the swim, after testing came back and met national guidelines. Heavy rains last week made it a little more of a challenge than usual to make sure the water was OK. She said they were working closely with Greenfield Department of Public Works to control the amount of water flowing in from the dam.
Nonetheless, Bensen said he had a good time as always.
“It’s great to roll out of bed, hop on your bike and coast into the transition zone,” said the University of Vermont graduate, who competed on the triathlon team at the school.
For the group of women who regularly rotate their place on the podium, everything went swimmingly as usual.
Joan LaPierre (1:35:06), of Shelburne Falls, finished first in the Sprint category for women ages 65-69, followed by Greenfield’s Margo Jones (1:45:15) and Colrain’s Judith Roberts (1:51:30).
“It used to be that I could beat Joanie on the bike,” Jones joked. “But no more.”
“We have fun,” LaPierre said. “As we get older, it’s like a challenge of how much longer we can keep doing it.”
The South Deerfield relay team came in first place in the Sprint, going from third place in its first year together to second place one year ago.
Two Roses One Thorn, sporting tie-dye blue T-shirts on the sidelines, finished in 1:18:36. Named after their team members, two of whom are women and one a man, Jennifer Yankowski led the family affair in the first leg.
“It’s a fun Sunday,” Yankowski said. “It gives us motivation to train over the course of the year.”
Yankowski, who coaches the Amherst Tritons swim team for ages 6-18, said she had a friendly bet with some of the kids she teaches. One of them beat her in the swim this year, and while only by a few seconds, he made sure to let her know it in the spirit of good sportsmanship, she said.
Winning the International was Rochester’s David Hansen (2:28:13) followed by Alessio Orsini of Boston (2:29:08). Coming in third-place overall and first place for women was Jennie Hansen (2:29:34). She beat out four-time winner and reigning champion Madeline Nagy of Hatfield (2:43:04). Coming in fourth place overall and third in men was Easthampton’s Matthew Musiak (2:29:47).
Joshua Solomon can be reached at jsolomon@recorder.com.