At 'King of the James,' the triathlon gets a Richmond twist

Watching the King of the James adventure triathlon on Sunday, it was hard not to be impressed by the distinct “Richmond-ness” of it all.

KOTJ, as it’s affectionately known, features an 8-mile trail ride, followed by a 4.5-mile run along the river and a 2.5-mile whitewater paddle of the Class III/IV rapids just south of downtown Richmond. The race raises funds for the James River Outdoor Coalition, which nets around $20,000 a year from the volunteer-led event.

Joey Parent, who founded the event with his friend Hunter Davis in 2014, reflected on the event's growth.

Despite initially taking inspiration from other races – notably Captain Thurmond’s Challenge in Fayetteville, WV – he said that KOTJ “has that bit of Richmond attitude.” For this, he cited the event’s low-frills, “down-and-dirty” ethos, the city’s unique urban trail system, and the race’s visual brand, updated annually by local artist Jim Callaghan. More than anything, however, he said that the city’s outdoor community is what has made KOTJ what it is today.

Parent, the Senior Assistant Director for Outdoor Leadership at VCU, still spearheads the group of volunteers who make KOTJ happen every year. That group also includes JROC board members Max Posner, Katie Lemmert, and Matt Rosenberg. The volunteer-only staff means that all profits from the event, both from sponsors and participants, go straight to JROC. The race is the organization’s largest single fundraiser of the year.

Some competitors run the event solo, taking on all three sports themselves. Others compete in relay teams with a specialist for each task. A few even undertake the run and mountain bike alone, then meet up with several friends and paddle the last leg together in a raft. No matter how it's run, KOTJ certainly isn’t for the faint of heart. 

Conditions on Sunday were just about perfect – overcast skies with temps just shy of 50 degrees when the race began, warming slowly to near 60 by the time the first kayak hit the water. This year, competitors in all divisions began together for a Le Mans start, sprinting en masse to their bikes and hurtling towards the trail.

Waiting at the start line in the minutes before the race, the parking lot swarmed with participants, spectators, and bikes – lots of bikes. Parent addressed the crowd before sending them off. After explaining the course one last time, he wished them good luck and reminded competitors to look out for each other. “It’s a race, but have fun,” said Parent. “Don’t kill each other out there.”

The gun went off (read: Parent shouted “go”), and the battle for the throne was underway. After circumnavigating the river once, covering the Canal Walk and Brown’s Island en route to the Buttermilk Trail before circling back on the North Bank, racers dropped their bikes at 14th Street. The run took them across the bridge, along the Floodwall Trail, and around Belle Isle before the final transition at Reedy Creek, where they took to the water. At that point, the top four competitors were all within a few minutes of each other. It was anyone’s race.

Watching the finishers paddle madly towards the finish line, it’s not hard to understand why King of the James has become such a cornerstone of Richmond’s outdoor community. In ten iterations, the race has changed a lot – it’s grown exponentially, ballooned in fundraising revenue, and switched courses several times. One year, due to some unexpected river flooding, the race even had to go virtual (participants competed asynchronously and uploaded their results online). But through it all, Joey Parent, JROC, and its core staff of volunteers have kept the race afloat and steered it through even the choppiest of waters.

Looking to the future, Parent said he’d like to see some new leaders step up, take over the event, and maybe even take it in a new direction. “It’s a community event,” he said. “I want to make sure the community stays involved – that includes running it.”

Parent himself, though he’s run, biked, and paddled every component piece of the course, has never actually competed for the throne – he’s been too busy running the kingdom.

Jesse Spangler and Courtney Dobbs came away the victors, neither for their first time, and the afterparty commenced.