D-S Boosters Raise Close To $50,000 With Annual Triathlon

The Dover-Sherborn Boosters raised close to $50,000 during their seventh annual triathlon on Sunday.

Early Sunday morning, swimmers stood in wetsuits with friends and family on the shore of Farm Pond in Sherborn jumping up and down trying to keep warm before their group was called to plunge into the cold water.

The triathletes swam was a quarter-mile across Farm Pond then came out of the water pulling off their wetsuits as they jogged to their bikes and took off for a 14.5-mile ride.

Finally racers stashed their bikes at Dover-Sherborn High School and headed out for a 3.7-mile run through scenic Dover. 

To keep accurate times the Boosters hired Tri and Du It Multisport, clocking racers’ times with chips worn on the participants, usually on the ankle or in their sneakers. 

At Farm Pond, Mike Dionne said he drove down from Maine at the behest of his friend to be the swimmer in a three-man team. 

Dedham resident Alex Chek said, “It’s a great event.” He said he did better this year than last year and that he enjoyed the experience.

Organizer Frank Perlmutter said at the high school, “It’s a good crowd.”

He said that they usually cap athlete participation at 300, but don’t cap the number of volunteers.

Perlmutter said this year they had over 100 volunteers and over 300 people come out to the high school to support their athletes and partake in a brunch donated by local businesses. 

Sherborn resident Chris Robbins said he did well this year clocking a time of 1:22. Robbins is invested in the Boosters as he has got one child in D-S Middle School and two at Pine Hill Elementary.

Sherborn High School sophomore Sky Leland, 15, ran his first triathlon coming in at 1:24.

Leland conceded that before six weeks ago he did not know how to swim.

“I trained a lot,” he said.

For the past six weeks he and his mother went Farm Pond to practice and until the big day.

His friends, Spencer Dimmicle, 16, Charlie Friesen, 15, Dennis Donoghue, 15, all sophomores at the high school participated as a team and came at in 1:25.

“We had a good time,” said Donoghue.

The overall best time went to Sherborn resident Timothy Tapply at 1:03:32.

The best female elite time belonged to Sherborn resident Maura Bennet at 1:13:20.

The best team time was Threes A Crowd at 1:13:08.

Dover-Sherborn Boosters President Jennifer Jordan said the triathlon was first conceived by Al Hamner and Peter Kelsey while they were training on a bike ride in 2002.

“They realized how beautiful our towns were and how we have all the natural resources to have a sprint triathlon,” Jordan said.

They worked with Perlmutter, then president of the Boosters, to establish the race.

The D-S Boosters are a “volunteer group of Dover-Sherborn parents who promote community spirit and provide support to all the student-athletes in all sports at the Dover-Sherborn High School. One quarter of the participants [in the triathlon] are from Dover and Sherborn,” said Jordan.

Triathlon participants can check their times at the Tri and Du It website.