Patty ….sorry, don’t have a picture….don’t know the year but it was WAY back.  My Dad, Richard Hardy, has been gone several years and this is back when i still lived in Lenox with my folks on Walker St. near Kimball Stables….. So….36+ years ago.

He smoked a pipe in the era when people did that which is germane to this story.  He participated in the canoe portion of the race.  He would have been in his late 50s or early 60s and was not what I would consider fit.  We watched at the bowl and off they went, Richard had his pipe in his mouth as it always was.  I didn’t even think that was weird.

At some point they rolled the canoe…not on purpose…and they went under and surfaced…his pipe, full of water no doubt, was still in his teeth and they finished that leg of the race.

No one blinked that they were dunked or at the fact that like “Popeye”, his pipe remained firmly in place and ready to be refilled with his Cherry Blend!
It might be my imagination but I believe the JBRA has come a long way since those early days!
Still smiling thinking about it!

Carla Hardy Dowd
Lebanon, PA