ARLINGTON — What constitutes a winning Pedal, Paddle, Puff strategy? Practice? Luck? Competitive drive?

Appropriately for a triathlon, the answer is probably all of the above.

Jim Trowbridge, whose Mount Baker Ski Area team came in with the best overall time of 58 minutes and 51 seconds, pointed out shortly after completing the second leg of the relay triathlon that the first two competitors to finish the volatile boating leg of the relay were over 60.

On the other hand, local division champions the Angry Dragons — the team of Justin White, Steve Rybalt, Aaron Barlond and Tyler Payne — were driven to beat a rival. They met their goal in their third year of competition, with first place coming almost as an afterthought.

Experience seemed to have given them a zen approach to the race, counting their general fitness as one of their biggest assets.

“The first year, our biker went the wrong way. Then last year, we lost,” White said.

The guys did a run-through of the course the night before, he added. Other aspects of their training sounded more suspect.

“We had beers,” said Borland with a grin.

Trowbridge’s team, who edged the Dragons by 31 seconds, was also in his third year at the Pedal Paddle Puff. With all things being pretty much equal among bikers and joggers, it was probably Trowbridge’s 28:50 time in the canoe that gave his team the biggest advantage.

The top four teams all finished within about two minutes of each other with the Angry Dragons taking second overall, closely followed by Newland Construction in 59:55 and open team division champs Mount Baker Open in 1:00:26.