CHARLEMONT — The Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon returned on Saturday after a two year hiatus due to COVID and the team of Roger Stendlund, Peter Vincent, Susan Wallen, Craig Barringer and Herman Ogulnick were there and ready to defend their title.
Each member of the team is over 70 years old and in their eight races competing with each other, have yet to lose in their age group.
That didn’t change at Berkshire East on Saturday, as the group once again took first in the 70-plus age group.
“It was tough not having this the last couple years,” Barringer said. “We missed it. We still trained, there just weren’t many competitions to do. We had to come back and defend our title.”
The Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon consists of five legs: a 4.5-mile trail run, an 18-mile bicycle road ride, a two-mile paddle, a two-mile adventure run and a climb up, ski down leg. Competitors have the option to split up each leg and compete as a team, or do it as a Braveheart – the category reserved for folks doing all five legs themselves.
While a challenging course, the group has a motto it sticks by that keeps them motivated to keep competing.
“Our motto is you don’t stop because you can’t. You can’t because you stop,” Barringer said. “So we don’t stop. We just keep doing it. That’s the team motto. We judge our performance on a standard of good enough. If it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough.”
Stendlund — who is 74 — opened the race by doing the 4.5 mile trail run. Once the South Amherst resident finished, Vincent took over and did the 18-mile bike ride.
The 78-year-old Hadley resident spent time doing high altitude training in Colorado over the winter, which made Saturday’s ride effortless.
“It was a challenge going into the wind for the first half the course,” Vincent said. “Coming back we flew.”
Wallen was next up on the two-mile paddle, using her own equipment to make the job easier.
The Jersey City resident enjoys coming up and competing with the team.
“I love this group,” Wallen said. “We’re undefeated. It was a beautiful day. The kayak has been harder some years but I brought my own kayak this year so it was easier.”
Barringer — the 72-year-old team captain from Leverett — handled the two-mile adventure run before Ogulnick finished the race by doing the ski portion, which involved climbing halfway up the mountain and skiing down.
For Ogulnick — a 72-year-old Pittsfield resident — the conditions were perfect for the race.
“It was a great day to ski,” Ogulnick said. “We had just the right conditions. Previous years it was sticky and you had to really work up it but that wasn’t the case this year.”
Expect to see this group at the race next year to continue their unbeaten streak.
Shelburne Falls’ Kristian Whitsett ran the race as a Braveheart and finished with the top individual time of two hours, 11 minutes.
The time was only two minutes slower than the fastest team time at the race.
“I was so thrilled with how many people showed up for it this year,” Whitsett said. “They had a perfect day for it. The mixture of families doing it, the kids doing it, the old guys doing it, it’s so cool. It’s a great community event and such a positive environment.”
In a race that involves five different legs, Whitsett felt he has an advantage where he’s good but not great at any one event, but not bad at any either. This allows him to keep a steady pace throughout.
“When you’re out there, you’re never sure when your body might quit on you,” Whitsett said. “It’s such a fun race. The dynamic changes all the time. I was third after the run, everything switches on the bike, I traded places on the kayak. It’s always changing.”
One of his favorite elements of the race is having the teams run at the same time at the Bravehearts. This makes for an interesting element, as you don’t know who’s up next for a certain team who might be able to make up ground.
“Having the Braveheart’s run against the teams is great,” “It mixes it all up, you’re not sure if the person you passed is on a team or is another Braveheart. It’s such a great environment.”