LAKEVILLE — For the 23rd year, triathletes came from all over the country to participate in the 2024 Cranberry Trifest Triathlon held at Ted Williams Camp in Lakeville on Sunday, Aug. 25. 

Athletes started off the morning with a swim in Loon Pond, then pedaled along a route that snaked through Lakeville, Middleboro, Rochester and Freetown and finished the day with a run through the neighborhoods surrounding Ted Williams Camp. 

The races included a Sprint distance triathlon, which consisted of a 0.25 mile swim, a 21 mile bike and a 3.1 run, and an Olympic distance triathlon, which consisted of a 0.90 mile swim, a 26.2 mile bike and a 6.1 mile run. 

Athletes also had the option to participate in a “splash and dash” event, which included just a swim and a run, or an “aquabike,” which included just the swim and bike portions. 

Sprint triathlon participant Melanie Diamanti conquered the final meters of the race in style, flexing the muscles of her herculean arms as she crossed the finish line. 

Diamanti, who came all the way from Pawcatuck, Connecticut to do the race, finished with a time of 1 hour, 32 minutes, 7 seconds. 

Evidenced by the gesture she made as she passed beneath the inflatable arc marking the competition’s end, she was satisfied with her result.

 “I actually felt pretty good,” she said. “I’m happy with it.”

Marie Labriola, from Westerly, Rhode Island, finished third overall in the Sprint triathlon with a time of 1:29:22. Labriola noted how she loved how fast and flat the bike route was.

“This is a great race,” she said, adding that “any day you can get out of bed and do a triathlon,” is a good day. 

The key to getting that third podium spot for her was focusing on the present. During the event, she told herself, “enjoy every pedal [stroke], every step, every stroke. Everytime I race, that’s how I race.”

This was the second year Lakeville resident David Lamoureux did the race after a 10-year hiatus from endurance competition, he said. 

Lamoureux, who completed the Olympic course in just over 2 hours, said that when the going gets tough during a competition, one word comes to mind: “Push. The regret is worse than the pain [you experience] while you’re doing it.”