PETERBOROUGH — The effort needed to finish a triathlon isn’t for the faint of heart.

Whether it is a full Ironman, a sprint or a mini, the mental focus required takes months and sometime a full year to prepare.

Saturday’s second Monadnock Challenge Series Sprint Triathlon drew 186 athletes, 46 more than the inaugural event, and in the end, John Rymes of Chichester stood alone at the finish line.

“It’s totally surreal,” said race director Erin Lyons. “It just makes me happy. It makes me want to do it for the rest of my life. I had the time this year to sit back and watch it flow. I got to enjoy it a little more.”

Rymes, who grew up in Antrim, was using Saturday’s race as a prelude to an even bigger race this weekend.

“Really today was just a training day for me,” said Rymes after the race. “I have the Timberman up in Gilford — the Ironman 70.3 next weekend — so today’s really my last day of hard training and then I start my taper.”

He didn’t compete in the event last year, but thought it would be the perfect way to end his training.

Rymes finished in one hour, 12 minutes and 49 seconds, good enough for a three-plus minute win.

“Honestly I just saw there was a triathlon in Peterborough and I loved growing up in this area. I love Peterborough, I love the area and I thought it would be fun to come over,” Rymes said. “I had no intentions of winning. I just came over to try and push hard. It’s a sprint, so you can redline it the whole way.”

Coming out of the water at Cunningham Pond, Rymes stood in second place, seven seconds off the pace of Michael Kraskouskas, who finished in 34th, by swimming the 0.40-mile course in 9:53. Rymes took the lead early in the 15.4-mile bike and never gave it up.

Rymes cruised through the bike course that went to Hancock and back. His time of 39:18 was not only first, but also the only one who finished in fewer than 40 minutes.

“You couldn’t get a better area to have a triathlon in,” Rymes said. “I would like to give kudos to Erin Lyons, the race director. She did an incredible job. I’ve done a lot of triathlons from sprint to four Ironmans and this is probably one of the best organized and run events I’ve ever seen.”

When Rymes stepped off his bike, he held a 2:21 lead on Jeff Litchfield, who finished second, and it was just a battle against the clock.

“I was in the lead from the start of the bike. I’m a pretty strong cyclist, so I tried to get a bit of a lead on the bike just in case there were some fast runners out there,” said Rymes.

Rymes had his worst finish in the run, placing fourth with his time of 21:02 for the 5K, but it was only 30 seconds off the lead pace.

He was the only competitor to finish in the top five in each segment of the race.

Litchfield, who finished in 1:15:54, was third in the swim and bike portions and seventh in the running.

Last year’s winner, David Carlsen of Peterborough, was unable to repeat as champion, but did take third in 1:17:49.

“Anytime I race, I’m going for the win, but I’m happy with third,” said Carlsen. “People love the event. It’s going to continue to get bigger every year.”

Carlsen was 13th coming out of the water, doing so in 11:16, but made up ground on his bike. He was second in the bike, 41:04, which allowed him to make up for his slower pace in the run. Carlsen was just 18th for the 5K, more than three minutes behind the leader, Chris Koerber, who finished fourth, but he held on to beat Koerber by 10 seconds.

“I could see the second-place guy ahead of me the whole time on the bike, but the first place guy was just gone. Just head and shoulders above the rest of us,” Carlsen said.

Koerber finished in 1:17:59, placing fourth in the bike and first in the run after taking 37th in the swim. Koerber was third last year.

Lars Sauvola rounded out the top five in 1:18:49. He was 11th in both the swim and bike before timing second for the run. Sauvola took runner-up in the inaugural running.

Robin Asbury of Andover was the top female finisher on the day, placing eighth overall in 1:21:49. Asbury came out of the water in 24th, 12:01, and had six women in front of her. Asbury made up her time on the bike, finishing in 43:33 and in eighth, the only woman in the top 10.

The second female finisher, Kathy Maddock, followed Asbury in ninth, 1:23:17.

The top team, the Rockers, made up of Valli Hannings, John Kaufhold and Alex Kaufhold, won the team battle in 1:29:10.

In an effort to make the course more challenging and safer for the athletes, the route was changed a bit for this year.

The swim in Cunningham Pond was the same, leaving the town beach and returning to the boat launch. From there, those who competed last year had an adjustment to make.

Once on their bikes, competitors went toward Route 101, instead of in the direction of East Mountain Road.

The bike course went through downtown on its way to Hancock and returned to the Recreation Department, the sight of the transition to the run and the finish.

The run had a number of hills, including those on MacDowell Road, but finished with a flat trip down Union Street for the last mile.

“This is a great venue, a great race and a good time,” Rymes said. “I’m going to tell a lot of people about it, a lot of my friends about it. It could really become a big event for this area.”

After all the bills are paid for the event, the rest of the money brought in from the race fees will go to the Support4Sports Fund, which will be given out this week in the amount of $500. Lyons said between $2,000 and $3,000 was raised for the fund this year.

“I have so many good ideas for next year,” she said.