Goat Becomes GOAT After Finishing a Marathon
Forget running with the bulls - in Canada, lucky half-marathon runners got the opportunity to do part of their race with a goat that escaped from a pumpkin patch. If someone isn’t already optioning this as a film, there’s something wrong with Hollywood.
By Bram Teitelman · October 2, 2024
Goats, is there anything they can’t do? They eat tons of grass, which is helpful if you can’t afford a lawnmower. They can also climb trees, which never works out well for lawnmowers. And while you can mow lawns and climb trees, when was the last time you ate a tin can? While generally not thought of as natural-born athletes, occasionally a goat will join a half marathon and cross the finish line, gaining a medal and the adulation of runners and goat enthusiasts worldwide.
This amazingly whimsical story all started on Sunday, September 29th, in Newfoundland, Canada, in a town inconceivably named Conception Point South, hosting its first-ever half marathon, the T’Railway Trek. The 250 runners passed Taylor’s Pumpkin Patch, which happens to have a resident goat, Mr. Joshua, Mayor Darrin Bent told CBC News. Mr. Joshua, tired of his pumpkin patch life, decided to join the race. Joshua’s owner (and pumpkin patch owner), Jeremy Taylor, said that the excitement of all those people running past made him decide to break his collar and try to set a record, or at least run with his newfound Newfoundland friends.
Someone quickly threw a medal around Mr. Joshua’s neck, which he probably tried to eat. Then the animal continued on, running about 4 kilometers with the runners. He probably wasn’t running as fast as Taylor, though, who found out about Joshua’s feat of endurance in real time via social media and caught up with him. With the two reunited about half a kilometer shy of the finish, they walked the remainder of the race, where one of them was branded a hero at the finish line.
Some of the runners decided to stop trying to win, instead choosing to keep pace with the animal, which a true athlete might consider as quitting. That true athlete can shut the hell up, because that’s just awesome. And it’s true that Mr. Joshua might have had a handicap in that a) he joined the race halfway through and b) he has twice as many legs as his competitors, but there should be more animals in races. Dogs in decathlons? Bring it on. Salmon at swim meets? That sounds delightful. Primates playing pickleball? I mean why not? As far as Mr. Joshua is concerned, CBC News says that the goat will be at a hockey game this week, dropping the puck at a C.B.S. Renegades game.