18 Walpole Natives Participate in Sharon Triathlon

No rain, only a little sun and very limited humidity was a welcomed site for triathletes in the Sharon Triathlon 2012 at Lake Massapoag Sunday.

"The Sharon Triathlon has been around for almost 25 years," said race director Tim Richmond, who is in his fifth year. "We have six races in total. Dartmouth, two in Hopkinton, Onset, Sharon and Winchendon. Our oldest athlete today is a 77-year-old man and our youngest is 15-year old girl."

Richmond used to compete and says he wanted to bring quality races to Massachusetts.

Sunday's course started with a 1/2 mile swim, a 12.3 mile bike ride which went through the towns of Easton, Mansfield, Foxborough and Sharon, ending with a 4.4 mile run.

The men's top finishers were Worcester's Craig Mitchell in first lace, coming in at 1:12.31, Watertown's Jorge Martinez was second at 1:13.11 and East Weymouth's Les Gardner third Place at 1:13.17.

Steve Cox was the top Sharon finisher in 19th place at 1:20.14.

Other top local finishers in the top 25 were Foxborough's Dale Stephanos, fourth, 1:13.25, Westwood's David Fredrickson, ninth, 1:19.05, Stoughton's James Magaldi, 11th, 1:19.30, Medfield's Kevin Barton, 1:19.55, and Dover's Greg Bodkins, 15th, 1:20.14, and Sharon's Eoghan Daley, 25th, 1:22.48.

Meg MacSwan of Chestnut Hill was the first women's finisher with a time of 1:19.58, good enough for 14th overall. Canton's Beth Allen was the second women's finisher in 29th place at 1:23.18, while Salem's Brandi Dion was the third women's finisher in 1:24.01.

18 Walpole residents took part in the triathlon. Joseph Grant was Walpole's best finisher with a time of 1:35:05, good for 119th place overall.

There were 503 finishers in the race. For complete results of the race go to www.coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/Aug12_Sharon_set1.shtml.