CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, NL — He may not have set the fastest time or even completed the full distance, but residents of a town in Newfoundland agree that the goat that unexpectedly entered the local half marathon over the weekend is the undisputed champion of the event.

Midway through Sunday’s T’Railway Trek half marathon in Conception Bay South, NL, an eager 68-kilogram goat named Joshua broke free from his collar and joined the runners on the route.

He kept pace for almost a quarter of the race before being picked up by his owners and now even has a medal to reward his efforts.

Joshua’s half marathon debut surprised no one more than Heidi Taylor, who woke up Sunday morning to see social media full of photos of her goat mingling with fellow runners.

“We are going for a walk with Joshua, he listens very well and will follow you,” she said in an interview on Sunday.

“So when he saw all the people running, he must have thought, ‘I’m going too.’”

Joshua lives in Taylor’s Pumpkin Patch, the business co-owned by Heidi Taylor. Taylor doesn’t know what time he managed to remove his collar, but estimates he ran about three miles of the 13-mile race.

She got wind of his unexpected participation around 9:30 p.m. when she opened her Facebook and recognized him from the photos filling her feed.

Taylor and her fiancé used the Facebook posts to track down Joshua’s whereabouts along the race track, and they “took another collar and leash, along with a bag of cheezies” – his favorite snack – and set out to find him.

Joshua stayed close to the crowd of runners, Taylor said, managing to avoid roads and stay on a trail. The runners “kept him going, he followed whoever he was running after.”

“At one point he was leading the race,” Taylor said with a laugh.

Once she managed to pick Joshua up, Taylor took him to the finish line so he could celebrate with his new running friends.

That’s where Joshua received his half marathon medal. Jeanine Scott, a race volunteer, was the one who placed it around Joshua’s neck.

“I thought, you know what, you don’t always see a goat at the finish line of a half marathon, so Joshua got the medal and he was pretty good at it,” Scott said.

Although Joshua’s escape was a bit of a shock, Taylor said she wasn’t surprised her people-loving goat wanted to join in on the fun. She said he enjoys being with people and can often be found sneaking popcorn and hugs from visitors at the pumpkin patch.

“When we close the farm to the public in October, we’re going to encourage people to keep coming back just to visit with their kids because he’s just such a sweet animal,” she said.

The City of Conception Bay South reported the “unbelievable” moment Joshua entered the race, prompting smiles and giggles from runners and race volunteers. The post received more than a thousand likes and shares and dozens of comments in just a few hours.

“That would make my day to run with a goat!” I wouldn’t even be mad if he was faster than me, which he would be,” one commenter wrote.

“Well deserved medal for the GOAT,” wrote another.

The 10-year-old goat is now happily resting, exhausted from his large run, Taylor said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.

– By Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax.

The Canadian Press