CHARLEMONT — Mary M. “Polly” Bartlett, a skier for more than 50 years, enjoyed her downhill ski run as part of the Pine Brook Farmers team at the Berkshire Highlands Pentathlon.
But she didn’t expect to win an award.
At age 89, Bartlett, a Buckland resident, was proclaimed “Most Inspiring Athlete” at the Pentathlon, held earlier this month at Berkshire East. It was the first time this award was ever presented; but it was also the first time anyone Bartlett’s age participated in the rigorous five-sport relay, in which teams compete against each other in running, bicycling, kayaking, obstacle course and skiing.
“I had no idea there would be anything for me,” Bartlett said of her award. “That’s all my daughter-in-law’s doing,” she said, referring to Marie Bartlett, a pentathlon volunteer who helped to organize the three-generation family team, the Pine Brook Farmers.
“It’s the first year Polly has ever entered as an athlete,” Marie Bartlett said. “Anytime I told someone my 89-year-old mother-in-law was going to be in the pentathlon, they say, ‘Oh my. That’s what I want to be when I grow up.’”
“I thought, if Polly wants to be in the pentathlon, how do I make sure it happens?” she added.
A lifelong athlete, Polly Bartlett was on the National Ski Patrol for about 35 years, mostly at Berkshire East.
For the past 15 years, Polly Bartlett has been working the hand-pump railcar at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum, showing visitors how to operate the car on the museum’s trolley tracks.
She is also an avid hiker and a founder of the Deerfield River Watershed Association. The Conway Station footbridge, on the Mahican-Mohawk Trail, is named “Polly’s Crossing” in her honor.
The Buckland resident taught physical education. As a 4-H Clue leader for many years, she taught horseback riding to local children, using her own horses.
She has been practicing yoga for about 40 years and still rides a bicycle —a three-speed bike that once belonged to her son, Sam Bartlett.
“A couple of months ago, we were talking about the pentathlon and Polly said it would be fun to be in it — as a three-generation team,” Marie Bartlett said.
The family team included Polly’s daughter, Sally Bartlett Spenser, who ran the obstacle course; Sam Bartlett did the cycling and also competed that day on a second team. Marie Bartlett was the uphill skier, and Polly’s granddaughter, 25-year-old Jeannie Bartlett, did a trail run and kayaking.
“We did it for fun — not to win anything,” Polly Bartlett said. When asked if she’d like to do it again next year, she replied, “I hope so.”
“My impression of Polly is that, in her life, she looked for ways to have fun and ways to contribute. That’s what she fills her life with,” Marie Bartlett said.
“She’s always moving,” says Marie. “Being active is just what she does.”