From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, athletic events made up a major portion of the fun at the 2016 Blue Plum Festival in downtown Johnson City. The legacy sporting event, the Blue Plum 5K, took place Friday evening, with runners starting and finishing at Fountain Square. An accompanying event for the little ones, the Little Plum Half, took young racers a half mile through downtown. A popular event of the past few years, the crossfit competition, drew lots of competitors and spectators to a closed section of West Main Street Friday night and Saturday. The event was overseen by Crossfit East 10. Finally, the Sweetwater IPA Omnium, a three-day cycling competition, wrapped up Sunday with criterium races that wound through downtown’s streets.
After 90 minutes of riding around a 0.7 mile course in downtown Johnson City Sunday, inches separated Oliver Flautt, right, from Chris Uberti at the end of the pro criterium race, with Flautt winning by a nose.
Teresa Campbell in the women’s RX division of the Crossfit East 10’s competition. Campbell and partner Sarah Diamond captured the title. (Photo by Sarah Colson)
Joe Brown (pictured above) and his partner Kevin Jessee won first place in their division of Summer Bash 2016. Photo by Sarah Colson
Anton Moton works on a three-rep max for overhead squats during the competition. Photo by Sarah Colson
One participant in Friday’s Little Plum Half works very hard to make it to the finish line. Photo by Sarah Colson
Riders are bunched up as they turn onto Spring Street in the early going.
A rider leans into a corner in Sunday’s pro criterium race (Photo by Jeff Keeling)
Criterium runner up Chris Uberti, middle, couldn’t avoid a fallen competitor and also went down in this two-cyclist crash in Sunday’s race. Photos by Jeff Keeling
Chris Uberti, Greenville, S.C., and Oliver Flautt, Boulder, Colo., come through a tight corner in the lead of Sunday’s Fountain Square Criterium, men’s pro 1/2 division. Flautt edged Uberti at the end and also captured the overall title in the Sweetwater IPA Omnium. Photo by Jeff Keeling