About midway through a half marathon Sunday, a new competitor joined the race in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province. He had neither registered nor picked up a bib, but he had grit — he had broken free of his metal collar to run alongside the 255 other racers, who embraced the fresh competition.
The new racer: Joshua, a 10-year-old goat who lives on a pumpkin patch.
Heidi Taylor, Joshua’s owner, told The Washington Post that her 150-pound, white and brown goat loves following people and taking short walks. Taylor said when Joshua saw people running by her family’s pumpkin patch in Conception Bay South, he broke free from his collar, which was tied to his pen.
Joshua ran nearly three miles before Taylor saw photos on Facebook of him dashing past crosswalks and over the town’s gravel trails. She tracked him down and drove him to a spot about 800 feet from the finish line, where he trotted the rest of the race. A volunteer then placed a medal around Joshua’s neck, and competitors lined up to take photos with him.
Darrin Bent, Conception Bay South’s mayor, said Joshua was “relatively well-known” in the town before the race.
“But he’s hit a new height of fame,” Bent told The Post.
Taylor’s family bought Joshua in 2014 from a farm in Green’s Harbour in Newfoundland and Labrador. He has become a staple of the family’s pumpkin patch, where some people visit just to see Joshua, who enjoys snuggling and bleats when he’s lonely — probably to get attention.
Joshua only stays in his pen during the winter, Taylor said, and she ties his collar to the outside of his pen or to a post at night. When he broke free of his restraints about a year ago, Taylor said she bought him a stronger collar.
Goats typically live up to 12 years, and lately, even Joshua’s ¼-mile daily walks have posed some problems. Joshua strained his front left leg Sept. 21 and had to take medicine to reduce the inflammation.
But neither Joshua’s injury nor his collar prevented him from joining his town’s inaugural half marathon Sunday. Joshua escaped around 9 a.m., about an hour into the race, after runners started to pass his pumpkin patch, Taylor said.
“He loves excitement,” said Taylor, 50.
Around 9:30 a.m., Taylor was preparing to drive just over a mile to the pumpkin patch to feed Joshua when her fiancé, Collin Payne, saw neighbors on Facebook sharing photos of Joshua passing a crosswalk. Taylor worried that Joshua was lost, she said, but he appeared to be following the runners and crossing guards, who stopped traffic and tried directing him toward the trails with their hands and bodies.
Taylor posted on Facebook, asking others for help finding her goat. Then she and Payne grabbed another collar, a leash and a bag of cheese puffs – Joshua’s favorite food. They drove about three miles, responding to a Facebook post on Joshua’s whereabouts, to a road where a neighbor held Joshua still by using her light blue jacket as a makeshift collar around his neck.
They loaded the goat into their General Motors Sierra, but knowing how popular Joshua had become among the runners, they wanted him to finish the race. They drove him about three miles closer to the finish line, which Joshua crossed before stopping – following fellow runners’ examples – and received a participation medal.
While Joshua finished near the back of the pack of runners, several of his competitors wanted his photo, so he and Taylor stayed near the finish line for about an hour.
“It was very heartwarming to see that people love him as much as I do,” Taylor said.
Taylor bought Joshua a stronger collar – again – but he didn’t need to go far Monday to receive dozens of visitors, who brought apples and bread to him at the pumpkin patch. Joshua was more fatigued than usual Monday, Taylor said, and she heard him snoring for the first time.
But he has another big weekend to prepare for. When Taylor’s pumpkin patch opens for the fall on Saturday, Joshua will wear his medal to show off his achievement to visitors. That night, he’ll be on the ice for the puck drop of a local youth hockey game.
Taylor said she doesn’t want Joshua to participate in more races; she’s worried he’ll get injured or lost. But she said Joshua will probably make an appearance at the finish line of next year’s half marathon.
Bent, the mayor, said Joshua has cemented himself as the race’s mascot.
“There may be a spot for Joshua on next year’s medal,” he said.