We had just about written off the hope of racing a triathlon this year when we received an invitation for a private triathlon with 15 spots from a mysterious person named Pierce Kirby. We thought we knew all of the triathletes on Martha’s Vineyard, but Pierce is a native Islander who has been living abroad for a number of years until now, and like us, found himself to be a pandemic refugee on the Island. He and some friends had signed up for the Hyannis triathlon and when it was cancelled, they decided to make their own triathlon. And so, on September 12, 2020 – just 3 weeks after the invitation came out - 14 of us showed up as legacy members for the Vineyard Group Triathlon.
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| Lambert's Cove Beach |
We took advantage of Labor Day Monday the week before the race to scout out the course. We had actually never swum in Lambert’s Cove since it’s restricted to Vineyard Town residents who are members during the season, but we arrived at sunrise to discover yet another beautiful part of Martha’s Vineyard we had never seen. After 5 of us did a training swim, we went to Pierce’s house for a guided tour of the running course. This was no regular run course; it was a trail run with about 15 turns. Pierce led us on his mountain bike, pointing out all of the houses off the beaten track where his relatives live. His family and their Vineyard properties go back 13 generations to Thomas Mayhew who established Martha’s Vineyard’s English settlement. The following is written on Wikipedia:
Thomas Mayhew was born in Tisbury, in the county of Wiltshire in England, in 1593. The family left England in 1631/2 during the Great Migration of Puritans that brought 20,000 settlers to Massachusetts in thirteen years. In 1641, Thomas secured Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, the Elizabeth Islands, and other islands as a proprietary colony from Sir Ferdinando Gorges and the Earl of Sterling. He bought the County for 40 pounds and two beaverskin hats from William Alexander, the 2nd Earl of Sterling.
Mayhew established himself as governor of Martha's Vineyard in 1642 and sent his son, Thomas the Younger, with about forty English families to settle there. He himself followed four years later. Together he and the younger Thomas established Martha's Vineyard's first settlement and called it Great Harbor, now Edgartown, and farming and whaling enterprises were begun.
Mayhew and his fellow settlers found a large and economically stable native population of about 3,000 living in permanent villages, led by four sachems(chiefs). Relations between the first settlers and their Wampanoag neighbors were peaceful and courteous. Under the leadership of his son, a minister, they instituted a policy of respect and fair dealing with the Wampanoag natives that was unequaled anywhere. One of the first of Mayhew's orders was that no land was to be taken from the native islanders, the Wampanoags, without their consent or without fair payment. From this time forward, the colonial settlers and Indians lived without the bloodshed that marked the history of European colonies elsewhere in the New World.
From the beginning, Mayhew had worked to preserve the original political institutions of the Indians. Religion and government were distinct matters, he told the Indian chiefs. When one of your subjects becomes a Christian, he is still under your jurisdiction. Indian land was guarded against further encroachment by white settlers. So successful were these policies that during the bloody battles of King Philip's War, in 1675-1676, the Vineyard Indians never stirred, although they outnumbered the English on the island by twenty to one.[5]
By 1660 there were about 85 white people living peaceably among the natives, earning their living by farming and fishing. The Mayhew family, which from that time forth became an integral part of island history, wanted to share its religion with the natives, but the Wampanoags were not too interested, having their own spiritual faith. However, once it was clear that, though Mayhew was the governor, the sachems remained in charge of their people, some became curious about the white man's God. When a native named Hiacoomes expressed an interest, Mayhew invited him into his home and instructed him in English and Christianity.[4] Hiacoomes, in return, taught Mayhew the native language. As soon as Mayhew could converse with the natives, he would some days "walk 20 miles through uncut forests to preach the Gospel...in wigwam or open field".[6]
There is a stained glass window in the baptismal font in the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. depicting Rev. Thomas Mayhew Jr. baptizing a native.[7]
And so it was appropriate that we found ourselves running through the same fields Pierce’s ancestors had traversed for over 300 years. The run course was confusing enough that four of us decided to do it one more time a few days later.
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| Pierce's kickoff |
On September 12, we were now the settlers welcoming our fellow competitors from the mainland. Other than his friend Matt, Pierce didn’t know any of the competitors he had recruited through word of mouth. We arrived at Pierce’s house, which also served as the finish line and T2, around 8:30am for registration. This was no normal registration – our bibs and t-shirts along with an atypical SWAG item – a mask - were neatly wrapped with a bow and unveiled to us. We then loaded up our bikes into four vehicles for transport to the beach. There was just one snafu – Matt briefly lost his car keys, but as one competitor pointed out, we’ve seen bigger snafus with professionally run races.
Once at Lambert’s Cove Beach, we set up our bikes at T1b around the bike rack, and headeddown to the beach at T1a. This added transition area was necessary for 2 reasons: We needed to save our masks (mandatory) and wear foot coverings (optional) to run back on the narrow trail to T1b.
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| Jen bodymarks Mike |
The competitors lined up on the beach and Pierce introduced us to “the Commodore”, his friend Ted, who would be leading us in the National Anthem (via his Phone) and air horn start. A boat and a kayak had been stationed on the swim course to support us if needed. At the start due to slightly wavy conditions, a makeshift rule was also established that if you needed to drop out of the swim, you could continue with the race provided you waited until the last swimmer exited the water.
And we were off! I had not swum much since mid-March when pools closed. We swam some in open water in July but then I lost my regular swimming partner and motivation when Mike developed Lyme disease, and then the jellyfish arrived. Our favorite Ice House pond only opened mid-summer and with impossible-to-get reservations. Nevertheless, despite being slow, I stayed on course and navigated the waves for the half mile swim, and arrived on shore 24:45 minutes later to find Mike, Pierce, and 2 competitors who had opted for the new DNF swim rule. I donned my mask and ran the .5 mile along the beach and the sand covered trail (Stephen del Monte of DelMoSports would approve of the sand run!).
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| The course |
But soon enough, I was happy to have him not be too far behind as I became confused. I thought for sure a sign was missing based on my earlier course reconnaissance, and he confirmed it was. My friend’s Shelly’s words from our training run rang in my head, “you never know when someone may take down a sign!”.
I finished the 3.5 mile run in 35:29 for a 10:13 pace – I just took it as a victory that I hadn’t tripped on any of the many trail obstacles or gotten lost. I crossed the finish line at 2:14:07, and later learned that put me at 11/14. Many of the competitors did indeed get lost on the run course, including one who lives close by and ran over 8 miles!
Our after-race party concluded the day in Menemsha with an awesome lobster dinner and beautiful sunset. How many $45 dollar races can you say got that benefit?!
This race was not about getting credit for a USAT race, qualifying for anything, or getting Ironman bragging rights. It was simply about the joy of racing in a beautiful place during a pandemic. And for that, we have Pierce and all of his ancestors to be thankful for!
