The Beach Diplomats, a team got together by Chris Carney whose roster included a former Olympic decathlete from Ghana, Kofi Sekyiamah, wound up winning the Gurney’s Inn beach volleyball league’s finals last Thursday, coming back to best top-seeded Air and Speed 17-21, 21-16, 21-14.

    “It was great volleyball,” said Kathy McGeehan, the league’s founder and girls volleyball coach at East Hampton High School, who in the summertime works as a fitness instructor at Gurney’s Spa in Montauk.

    As for the 10-team 4-on-4 league, co-sponsored by Diplomatico Rum of Venezuela and Gurney’s, the first organized beach volleyball here apparently in 25 years, McGeehan (who played then with the Blender Beach Bombers at Amagansett’s Atlantic Avenue Beach) said that “for the first year it went really well.”

    Dr. George Dempsey, whose team was swept by the Beach Diplomats in one of that evening’s semifinals — Air and Speed cruised to a 2-0 win over Shelter Island in the other — said that Air and Speed and the Beach Diplomats were “the two dominant teams here this summer.”

    The former University of California at San Diego player, who is a general practitioner in East Hampton and whose son, Pierre, and daughter, Mariah, played with him on Team Dempsey, said, in answer to a question, that he thought he was the eldest competitor in the league, “and, unfortunately, I play like it.”

    The final was, as aforesaid, hard-fought, for Air and Speed had on it Dan Weaver, who has coached East Hampton’s boys volleyball team in recent years, and his successor, Josh Brussell, and two former high school players, Summer Foley and Jon Jamet. Besides Sekyiamah, the Diplomats numbered Jessie Libath, a former Bonac star, Beth Crowley, and Jack Behan.

    Weaver and Brussell served out Air and Speed’s win in the first game, with Behan erring several times going down to the wire. The Diplomats broke a 16-16 tie in the second, winning the final five points.

    After Foley had served an ace to Crowley, Behan got the ball back for the Diplomats when his shot hit the line, a sideout that put the ball into the hands of Libath, who served out the set.

    “It was pretty much Kofi setting Jessie [for thunderous kills] in the middle in the last game,” McGeehan said. “Air and Speed missed some crucial serves, and once he was moved into the middle Jessie overpowered them.”

    Earlier in the season, Sekyiamah said the Diplomats were “the team to beat,” and while they finished the regular season as the runner-up to Air and Speed, he was proved right.

    Air and Speed’s chances would undoubtedly have been greater had Kim Valverde, an All-American honorable mention libero when she played at East Hampton High School, not had to go back to college. She’s playing at Hillsborough Junior College in Tampa, Fla., this year, though McGeehan said she was out for the moment, following a concussion she’d suffered in a collision.

    A pleasant sea breeze caressed the horses and riders and spectators as the 37th Hampton Classic opened Sunday — in stark, and welcome, contrast to the tropical storm that caused the weeklong hunter-jumper show to be foreshortened last year.

    Opening Day, whose featured Grand Prix Ring classes were the $50,000 United States Hunter Jumper Association International Hunter Derby presented by MeadowView Farms and the $20,000 Nicolock Time Challenge, began at 7:45 a.m. with a ceremony in which Hunter Ring 1 was renamed in memory of Anne Aspinall, who died of cancer this past year.

    As her sister, Emily, cut the ribbon dedicating the Anne Aspinall Ring, the some 40 attendees were told that “Anne played a key role in getting the Classic off the ground back in 1976 and served on the Classic’s board of directors ever since. . . . Everyone connected with the horse show world, and everyone who has ever enjoyed even a single day at the Hampton Classic over the last 36 years, owes Anne a tremendous debt of gratitude.”

    “A leading figure at the Topping Riding Club in Sagaponack, she was one of the most respected hunter-jumper trainers on Long Island, helping to produce countless champions. . . . Anne Aspinall is someone who can never be replaced and someone who will be missed greatly by all of us.”

    With the sun barely over the horizon, “local day” riders, as well as the pros, were seen to be warming up in numbers for classes in all five of the Classic’s rings.

    At the Annex Ring, in which adult equitation classes were held, one could hear trainers at the rail calling out to their charges, “A little bit brighter. . . . Lower your heels, lower your heels, Renee. . . . Push those heels down, arch more. . . . Lower your hands now. . . . ”

    Arguably, the horse that turned the most heads that day was Sam, a 4-year-old Clydesdale owned and ridden by Mike Gaynor, who, with his wife, Kerry, sponsored that day’s adult equitation classes.

    “He’s 2,100 pounds — twice the size of the other horses at the show — and he’s 18 and a half hands, so I’m not surprised that he’s noticed,” said Gaynor, who when asked how he and Sam had done in that day’s adult eq B section, said, with a laugh, “I stayed on.”

    The Gaynors keep three Clydesdales at Wolffer Stables not far from the Classic’s Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds — Sam, Ike, and Mike. The latter two 7-year-olds have been inseparable buddies since birth. “They’ve never been more than 30 feet away from each other.”

    A fourth, Kyle, died recently. The Gaynors have established an adult equitation trophy in his name, the Kyle’s Courage trophy, which goes to the class’s champion.

    “I became interested in Clydesdales about six years ago when I saw volunteer rangers — Shanette [Barth Cohen, the Classic’s executive director] used to be one, though she’s not anymore — riding them in Central Park. It’s an 860-acre park, and there are many areas that aren’t accessible to a vehicle. I’m one of the volunteers now, I do at least two patrols a month.”

    Shane Sweetnam, who grew up in County Cork, Ireland, and who now lives in Wellington, Fla., won with Cyklon 1083 the $20,000 speed class, even though they had a rail down on the penultimate jump.

    The 11-year-old stallion owned by Spy Coast Farm had “won a lot of money . . . in Switzerland, Canada . . . everywhere,” Sweetnam said afterward. Of the class, he said, “it was very competitive, especially the top six. . . . We won by two seconds.”

    The Irish-born rider has been competing professionally since he was 20. “It’s my passion,” he said. “I’m lucky that it’s my job every day.”

    As for the Grand Prix, the $250,000 class that ends the week, “I was in the top six two years ago . . . I’ve never won it. I hope to get closer this year.”

    Sweetnam, aboard Spy Coast Farm’s Esquina Van Klapscheut, also placed fifth in the Time Challenge. Others in the top six were G&C LeRoy, ridden by Carolina Mirabal and owned by Gustavo Mirabal, Cyrina Z, ridden by the Irish-born Darragh Kenny and owned by North Star, Lincourt Gino, ridden by Peter Leone and owned by Monica Carrera, and Udento Vol, ridden by Kenny and owned by Lauren Tyree.

    Kennzo, ridden by Molly Ashe-Cawley and owned by Kristen Abbatiello-Neff, was the $50,000 Hunter Derby champion. Inclusive, ridden by 14-year-old Victoria Colvin and owned by Betsee Parker, was the reserve. The winner received $15,000, the runner-up $10,000.

    Today’s events are to include the $10,000 Sam Edelman Equitation Championship in the Grand Prix Ring at 1:30 p.m., the $5,000 Junior Jumper Classic, from 8 a.m., and the $5,000 Strong’s Marine Amateur-Owner Jump­er Classic in Jumper Ring 2, as well as the $2,500 Marshall & Sterling Adult Amateur Hunter Classic in the Hunter 2 Ring at 1:30 p.m.

    The main event tomorrow is the $50,000 Spy Coast Farm/Young Horse Show Series Grand Prix Qualifier in the Grand Prix Ring at 1 p.m.

    On Kids Day, Saturday, the featured events will include the $30,000 Split Rock Farm 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship, the $30,000 Pilatus Cup, and the $20,000 SHF Enterprises 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship in the Grand Prix Ring.

    On Sunday, the show’s final day, the $250,000 FTI Grand Prix and F.E.I. World Cup Qualifier at 2 p.m. will be preceded by the $30,000 7 and 8-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship Finals and the $25,000 David Yurman Show Jumping Derby in the Grand Prix Ring. The latter class is part of a Show Jumping Hall of Fame series overseen by the Classic’s press officer and Hall of Fame executive director Mary Bauman.

    Also on Sunday, beginning at 8 a.m., there will be leadline classes for 2-to-4-year-old and 5-to-7-year-old riders in the Anne Aspinall Ring.

   No longer a comedy of errors, the Artists-Writers annual softball game has become discomfitingly well played in recent years, this past Saturday’s mano-a-mano struggle in East Hampton’s Herrick Park being no exception.

    In the end, the Writers’ egos were spared serious bruising as they emerged from the dogfight as 12-11 victors in 10 innings, thus taking a 26-18-1 lead in modern times, and going up 12-11-1 in the post-modern era.

    More likely than the Writers to treat victory and defeat as the imposters they are, the Artists took the loss philosophically. “It’s still fun, though we gave it to them,” Billy Strong said, with a smile, as he left the field, his bat and mitt slung over his shoulder.

    He was referring to an unaccountably unclaimed two-out pop fly to center field in the top of the third that led to three Writer runs, and to a leadoff ground rule double under the center-field fence in the 10th that “should have been caught.”

    Its author, David Baer, who had initially thought it was a homer, scored soon after with the tiebreaking run, and the Writers, again with two outs, appended two more, including the game-winner, sandwiched around a huge round of applause and the wonderment that greeted the arrival of a most famous spectator, former President Bill Clinton, who helped umpire the 1988 Game when he was governor of Arkansas.

    The Writers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, two coming home on a two-out double by Bill Collage (whose name, you’d think, would automatically qualify him as an Artist).

    Thanks to a booming three-run home run into the tennis courts by Eddie McCarthy, bearing this writer ceaselessly back into the past as he recalled the mighty clouts over the nets by Marty Lyons, it was tied in the bottom half.

    Dan Rattiner, infamous for his high strike calls made from behind the pitcher’s mound, was yanked in the second in favor of Judge Richard Lowe, who it was thought would be more judicious, but perhaps it was only right that his honor too was high-minded, causing both dugouts to exclaim periodically.

    But what would an Artists-Writers Game be without controversy? In this regard there were several dugout-emptying debates — one in the Artists’ fifth when Lee Minetree, the Writers’ catcher at the time, grabbed Geoff Prisco’s bases-loaded nubber near the top of the box (the line had been rubbed out) and stamped on home plate for the third out, and one in the bottom of the 10th when a bone-jarring collision at the plate involving Minetree and the gritty landscape architect Eddie Hollander resulted in the ball being dislodged and in Hollander’s scoring the Artists’ 11th run.

    Alas, the Paletteers could come no closer as, with one out and Eric Ernst on second, Mark Feuerstein and John Longmire, the second and third batters in the lineup, successively were retired on popouts caught by Baer, the best shortstop this side of the minor leagues.

    Baer, 23, a former intern at this newspaper who now writes for TV, was the Game’s M.V.P. last year. This year, that honor was bestowed by the winning pitcher, Mike Lupica, upon Jay DiPietro, the Writers’ cleanup hitter, who, with two outs and the score tied at 9-9 in the bottom of the eighth, reached back over the fence in left-center to rob McCarthy of what would have been another three-run homer.

    “That was a game-saving catch,” said Lupica, who in the top of the third smashed to smithereens a painted grapefruit Joe Sopiak tossed his way, thus carrying on a tradition that dates to the 64-year-old Game’s earliest days.

Thursday, September 6

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton at Southampton, scrimmage, 4 p.m.

Friday, September 7

BOYS SOCCER, Mattituck at East Hampton, nonleague, 4 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Hampton Bays, scrimmage, 4 p.m.

FOOTBALL, East Hampton at Babylon, season opener, 6 p.m.

Saturday, September 8

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, East Hampton at Smithtown East invitational, 8:30 a.m.

GIRLS SOCCER, East Hampton vs. Pierson, nonleague, Mashashimuet Park, Sag Harbor, 10 a.m.

RUGBY, league opener, Rockaway vs. Montauk, Herrick Park, East Hampton, 1 p.m.

Sunday, September 9

MIGHTY HAMPTONS, triathlon, .93-mile swim, 23.8-mile bike, and 6.2-mile run, Long Beach, Sag Harbor, 6:40 a.m.

Monday, September 10

GIRLS TENNIS, East Hampton at McGann-Mercy, Riverhead, 4 p.m.

BOYS VOLLEYBALL, Sayville at East Hampton, 5 p.m.

BOYS SOCCER, East Hampton at Sachem East, nonleague, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, September 11

GOLF, Center Moriches vs. East Hampton, South Fork Country Club, Amagansett, 4 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY, William Floyd at East Hampton, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL, Miller Place at East Hampton, 4 p.m.

BOYS CROSS-COUNTRY, John Glenn vs. East Hampton, Indian Island County Park, Riverhead, 4:30 p.m.

GIRLS CROSS-COUNTRY, East Hampton vs. Mount Sinai, Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, September 12

GIRLS TENNIS, Westhampton at East Hampton, 4 p.m.

Triathlon

    The 31st Mighty Hamptons Triathlon (.93-mile bay swim, 23.8-mile bike, and 6.2-mile run) is to be held at Long Beach, Sag Harbor, on Sunday beginning at 6:40 a.m.

    Tom Eickelberg, a 23-year-old pro from Babylon, was last year’s winner, in 1 hour, 57 minutes, and 18 seconds. It was his first time at this race. At the time, Eickelberg said he didn’t think he’d been beaten on Long Island in the past couple of years. The women’s winner, and seventh over all, was Amy Bevilacqua, 37, of Wilton, Conn., in 2:07:32.

Hall of Fame

    Joe Vas, School District Number One’s athletic director, has said that tickets to the Sept. 22 breakfast at which East Hampton High’s first Hall of Fame class is to be inducted are available to the public at $10 per ticket. Those who want to attend should make reservations with the high school’s athletic office (329-4143) by Sept. 15, he said.

    The Hall of Fame inductees, Vas added, are to be honored at the 9 a.m. breakfast and at halftime of that night’s homecoming football game with Southampton.

   The Montauk Rugby Club, which went undefeated in league play last fall, is looking to repeat, although, according to Rich Brierley, the format has been changed so as to include upstate sides in the mix.

    “There will be four three-team divisions in the Empire Union,” Brierley said during a conversation this week. “We’ll play each side in our division twice and then one crossover game. Ours is with Syracuse, but they’ll have to come to us.”

    When it comes to the playoffs, “the top four in the league will qualify, with the top two getting byes. Theoretically, long away games may affect outcomes, depending on the seedings, but we’ll worry about that when and if we come to it. Meanwhile, our aim is to win all of our games.”

    Brierley said he thought the Sharks are as strong as they were in 2011, with many of their young players continuing to be available — his son Matt, his nephew Erik, Mike Bunce, and Conor Miller among them. Gordon Trotter, the team’s New Zealand-born inside center, “will be back to lead the charge,” said Brierley.

    In addition, he said, “Teddy Grabowski is coaching a development team, which gives guys who may have been sitting on the fence when it comes to learning a new sport a chance to ease into it, to see whether they want to make their way up or not. . . . Oh yeah, they’ll be playing games, after the first side plays.”

    Montauk opens the season with Rockaway at East Hampton’s Herrick Park at 1 p.m. Saturday. Montclair is to play here Sept. 15, also at 1. The Sharks are to play at Bayonne, N.J., on Sept. 22. Lansdowne, a New York City side, is to play here Sept. 29. Montauk is to play at Rockaway on Oct. 6. Syracuse is to play here on Oct. 13, and Bayonne is to play here on Oct. 20.

   Grand Prix Sunday at the Hampton Classic ran the gamut age-wise, from 2-to-4-year-olds in leadline classes to the 50-year-old Jeffrey Welles, a two-time former Grand Prix winner, who on Merlin placed eighth in the day’s main event.

    Stuart Nayman, as he was watching his wife, Hilary, lead their 4-year-old daughter, Rachel, around the Anne Aspinall Ring that morning under the discerning eyes of two judges, said, when questioned, that Rachel had been riding “practically since birth.”

    Hilary and Rachel Nayman ride at Stony Hill Stables in Amagansett, where Chrissy Clark, who divides her time between managing a string of polo ponies for the Michelob Ultra team in Florida and at Stony Hill, is a trainer.

    Many East Hamptoners, summer kids and year-rounders, have learned to ride at Stony Hill, the best known former student being Norman Dello Joio, whose son, Nick, competed in Sunday afternoon’s $250,000 Grand Prix.

    “The last time I rode in the Classic was six years ago,” Rachel’s mother said. “But I’m coming back — I’ve got to get a horse.”

    As for Rachel, “she’s just started cantering,” though the 2-to-4-year-old riders weren’t required to do that that day — just walk and, when queried by the judges, answer questions as to equine body parts and such. “The judge asked her what color horse she was on, and Rachel answered correctly — a palomino,” Hilary Nayman said.

    When Rachel was done and had been told by Clark that she’d been “a superstar,” she was greeted in the warm-up ring by her 10-year-old brother, Ben, and by her 5-year-old boyfriend, Jackson Shell.

    “What’s the world coming to,” mused Donald Sheeler, the father of another Stony Hill entrant, his 6-year-old daughter, J.T., when this writer said he hadn’t begun going out with girls until he was 10. “And ever since they’ve been getting us into trouble.”

    His daughter, said Sheeler, had been in the leadline class last year, as well. Asked if he rode, he said, “No, I’m a spectator, a proud daddy.”

    Cody Abt, a 17-year-old volunteer who summers in Sag Harbor and rides at Andre DeLeyer’s East End Stables, said, when questioned near the in-gate, that she’d been riding since age 2.

    “I was the most relaxed kid,” she said when asked about her experiences in the Classic’s leadline classes. “I was so comfortable . . . I got a ribbon. I still have it.”

    Pernilla Ammann, whose 5-year-old daughter, Philippa, was being prepared for the 5-7 leadline competition by Clark, said her older daughter, Katarina, 7, had placed fourth in a short stirrup class earlier in the week. She, herself, did dressage (ballet on a horse) with Wick Hotchkiss, Stony Hill’s owner. “They don’t do dressage at the Classic,” she said. “It’s very difficult, though jumping is too. The two really oughtn’t to be compared.”

    Besides the above-mentioned, Clark brought with her that day Madeline Liceaga, Sebastian Liceaga, Lilah Juneja, and Samantha Ramos.

    Asked if Lara Lowlicht, an East Hampton Middle School fifth grader, who was awarded Stony Hill’s first-ever riding scholarship earlier this summer, had competed that week, Clark, who doesn’t train her — Aisha Ali does — said she had.

    “She’s been doing excellently in competitions all summer. She was fourth and seventh, I think, in Short Stirrup Equitation 10-12 Section B, and,” Clark said, reaching into a tubular container she held, “she was that class’s ESI Photography poster child.”

    As for the Stony Hill Foundation’s scholarships, Clark said, “They’d like to give out a few more. They conduct a review every six months. The next one will be in November.”

   The fall high school sports season is upon us, and from a Bonac fan’s perspective the prospects are bright. Just about all of East Hampton’s 11 teams seem to have legitimate shots at the playoffs.

    Last year, nine of the 11 — football and field hockey being the only exceptions — made the postseason. This year, football, having cut ties (at least temporarily) with Pierson at the varsity level, reportedly has a shot. The team’s preseason ranking was sixth among 14 Conference IV schools; eight will make the playoffs. And field hockey, which just missed the playoffs last year despite a major upset of Rocky Point as the regular season wound down, has very good numbers, according to the team’s coach, Becky Schwartz, and “a very good forward line.”

    With Meghan Dombkowski’s graduation “there’s no monster free-hitter, but we should be okay.”

    Leonela Acevedo, a sophomore, has come up from Robyn Mott’s junior varsity, and has, said Schwartz, “improved tremendously.”

    Her chief problem these days, the coach said following Friday morning’s practice, has to do with surfaces. “Just about all our away games are going to be played on grass, while all our home games will be played on turf, and there’s a great difference in the two.” Moreover, she said, “the grass fields up west are nowhere as smooth as ours, and often you’re playing in goose poop.”

   The pink T-shirts Schwartz and Mott have had printed up say “Go Hard, or Go Home.”

Sentiments very much akin to those were expressed Friday morning by Rich King, who coaches the defending-county-champion boys soccer team. Summoning his boys around him during a finishing drill, he urged the players to put out more effort. They were talented, no doubt, but if they did not go all out in practices they would regret it come gametime.

“As soon as you become comfortable doing the uncomfortable, you’ll be on your way to becoming a better player,” King told his charges, before resuming the drill, after which they did wind sprints.

As for the coming season, he said, “We’ve got 20 returnees. We’ve got the most depth we [he and Don McGovern] have ever had. Though we lost 85 percent of our scoring with the graduation of Mario [Olaya, one of the top scorers in the county last fall] and Milton [Farez], the main thing Don and I like about this team is that we’ve got five or six kids who are capable of scoring 10 goals each. Also, when we sub, there won’t be any drop-off. That’s different from the past.”

    He would keep 26 or 27 players on the varsity squad, said King. Steve Tseperkas, the jayvee coach, has 30 at the moment, though some cuts may have to be made.

    King chose not to compete in the East End Cup tournament this fall — which his team won last year — so that he could schedule tough nonleague games. The Bonackers are to play last year’s top-seeded AA team, Sachem East, at Sachem East Monday night. They are to play at Jericho, the 2011 Class A state champion and the team that edged the Olaya-less Bonackers for the Long Island regional title — on Sept. 15. That 11 a.m. game is to be televised by MSG Varsity, King said. The league season, he said, is to begin Sept. 18.

    Shoreham-Wading River, the winner of a summer league in which East Hampton did not compete, was awarded the top Class A seed in the preseason coaches’ rankings, with East Hampton ranked second. Miller Place and John Glenn would also be in the top four, said King, who added that “the preseason rankings don’t mean anything — the ranking that counts is the ranking you have on Nov. 7, the day of the county finals.”

Thursday, August 30

HAMPTON CLASSIC, hunter and jumper classes in all five rings, with featured events to include the $5,000 Junior Jumper Classic and the $5,000 Strong’s Marine A-O Jumper Classic in Jumper Ring 2, the $10,000 Sam Edelman Equitation Championship in the Grand Prix Ring at 1:30 p.m., and the $2,500 Marshall & Sterling Adult Amateur Hunter Classic in the Hunter 2 Ring at 1:30, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds.

Friday, August 31

HAMPTON CLASSIC, hunter and jumper classes in all five rings with featured events to include the $10,000 Junior/Amateur-Owner Welcome Stake, the $15,000 Speed Derby, and the $50,000 Spy Coast Farm/Young Horse Show Series Grand Prix Qualifier in the Grand Prix Ring, at 1 p.m., in the Grand Prix Ring, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds.

Saturday, September 1

HAMPTON CLASSIC, Kids Day, hunter and jumper classes in four rings with featured events to include the $20,000 SHF Enterprises 5-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship, the $30,000 Split Rock Farm 6-Year-Old Young Jumper Championship, and the $30,000 Pilatus Cup in the Grand Prix Ring, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds.

Sunday, September 2

HAMPTON CLASSIC, Final Day, featured events to include leadline classes from 8 a.m. and the $10,000 Hermes Hunter Classic at noon in the Anne Aspinall Ring, and, in the Grand Prix Ring, the $250,000 FTI Grand Prix and F.E.I. World Cup Qualifier, at 2, preceded by the $30,000 7 and 8-Year-Old Young Jumper Championships from 8 a.m., the $25,000 David Yurman Show Jumping Derby, the A-O Jumper Championship, and the Junior Jumper Championship, Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, showgrounds.

Monday, September 3

RUNNING, Great Bonac 10K and 5K races, Springs Fire Department, Fort Pond Boulevard, 9 and 9:20 a.m., benefit Springs Fire Department scholarship fund and the Old Montauk Athletic Club’s grants program.

    Caroline Cashin, with 120 pumps, which took the pressure off her in the subsequent run that spanned the Atlantic and Indian Wells Beaches in Amagansett, was the runner-up to Neil Falkenhan and set a record for women in the Body Tech and Old Montauk Athletic Club’s “Pump and Run” competition on Aug. 22.

    This year, “thanks to my workouts at [her husband Ed’s] Exceed Fitness studio” on Plank Road, Cashin chest-pressed the bar 120 times, 22 more repetitions than she did at the same event in 2011.

    “The great part about this race,” the 36-year-old Cashin said, “is that you don’t have to be a fast runner to do well. Two years ago Mike [Bahel] beat me by three seconds — this year I beat him by three.”

    “I stopped spinning this year,” she continued, “and focused more on functional classes, and really noticed a difference. Not only was my lower body more toned, I was more fit in general. I know athletes who train at Exceed Fitness and they get results, but Ed’s classes aren’t just for athletic people — they’re open to everyone of all fitness levels.”

    Falkenhan, who’s 28, did 71 reps of 60 percent of his body weight and ran the 1.7-mile stretch in 9:58. Given his chest-press credits, which were translated into seconds and then deducted from his run time, he netted a 6:25.

    Caroline Cashin’s net time for the run was 7:22. Behind her in the standings were Bahel, 46, at 7:25; Erik Engstrom, 14, at 8:51, and Mike Bunce, 26, at 9:32. There were 20 competitors in all.

    Henrika Conner of the Old Montauk Athletic Club said later that “without Mike this event wouldn’t happen. He provided the weights, the T-shirts, water, food, and prizes. Billy O’Donnell brought a bench and more. The club provided the clock.”