The Summer Decathalon Series is two races deep and things will continue to heat up – literally and figuratively – as this yearly tradition continues! For now, sit back and enjoy a little history written by Barb Cosgrove of this amazing and long-running series that kicks off the Summer season.

The Summer Decathlon Series was created in 1990 by then-club President Tim O’Keefe. Since the club’s inception in 1975, there had always been summer races on the track (most of which were held on FCC’s track, where the day care center is now located). The club track races were intermingled with other road race events.

The idea of a decathlon series came from these summer track events, the Olympic Decathlon and its scoring, and the fact that Tim was a sprinter in high school and college and had an affinity for the track. The event distances were somewhat similar to today’s event distances with the exceptions of the longest distance being a 5k and the shortest distance being 100 meters. Both were eventually phased out with the 100 meter being discontinued due to the number of injuries it produced. The events were held on Thursday evenings. This eventually changed as runners were not fond of fast races on a Thursday and then trying to do a road race the very next Saturday. Wednesday was a much better fit.

The scoring system was like decathlon scoring in that large numbers were assigned based on how runners finished in age groups. Awards were given to winners of each age group. This was eventually changed to a top 10 male and female system. Older runners were not pleased with competing against younger runners, so a handicap system was created to give “bonus points” based on a runner’s age. It helped some but didn’t fix the inequity entirely. It wasn’t until sometime later that the use of Howard Grubb’s Age Grading table brought a bit more equity to the scoring as well as giving runners a comparison to other runners their age.

Results had always been calculated by hand and recorded on posters displayed at each race. It was a blessing when IT guru Lou King set up a data table to score and record each runner’s results. The posters are now gone, and Carey Ahr now has results posted on the club’s website incredibly fast.

The Decathlon series has always been a showcase for the speedier runners in the club. Runners who were mired in the middle of road race packs were suddenly in the spotlight displaying blazing speed. Runners who had always done road races or trails sometimes found a hidden talent on the track. Regardless of talent or speed, the decathlon has always provided a fun outlet for runners and enjoyable competition amongst friends.

Despite missing a year due to COVID, 2025 marks the 35th running of the Summer Decathalon Series. Tim has been the meet director for all those years and despite slowly regressing in times still enjoys being out on the track and watching the amazing performances by club members.

Thank you, Tim for carrying on this wonderful tradition and all you do for the club!