This Sacramento-area running club has been training (and sharing margaritas) since 1976

If you tell most runners you’re in a running club, they’ll assume it’s a local group of people who run and train together.

The Aggies of Northern California have never really been like another running club, though. The club motto is “The faster we run, the sooner the fun.”

That might give you the impression that these aren’t hardcore runners, but you would be wrong. Since their start in 1976, they’ve had Olympians, national champions, Team USA members, Olympic qualifiers and one national cross country champion join them.

The Aggies got their start with eight runners who wanted to train together and race the Decelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relays. Four of the original eight ran together at UC Davis for a few years. They kept the Aggies together and added to their numbers as a post-collegiate running group. Today they have around 150 members who train and run races all across the United States, although they are still based in Northern California. Runners have all kinds of racing abilities and ages span from kids to seniors.

In 1978, while preparing for the Bay to Breakers race, the Aggies decided to really run together.

“Hard to say if it was sleep deprivation or too many beers, but they tied themselves together with trash bags,” said Kevin Searls, Aggies president. The group came in 130th overall out of 16,000 runners. The Centipede was born. Bay to Breakers still has a Centipede division. Groups in that division have 13 runners tethered together, with a couple of floaters available to sub in if somebody needs a break.

After just a couple of years, the group formed an alliance with Converse. They later spent about 15 years with Reebok and 10 with Asics. They are now sponsored by Hoka running shoes. Searls said the group is grateful for Hoka’s support, “They provide equipment and money for Olympic development, helping post-collegiate athletes get to the next level of their running careers.”

Aggies don’t all train together because of logistics, but there are groups of Aggies that do throughout California, including a group in Sacramento. One of the perks of being an Aggie are the resources for training, and possibly the biggest resource they can offer are connections to people. They can be experiences from fellow runners on altitude training or the club’s shared running coach, Joe Rubio.

Members also get together a few times a year. On Labor Day weekend, they celebrated 45 years of Aggie Camp. Aggie Camp got its start as an altitude training event, but it has evolved. Participants come from all over to camp near Truckee. Social members and racing members will camp, share meals, enjoy all of the outdoor activities available, and pass along Aggie lore around the campfire. It’s become a family event for the group, and an annual highlight for those who are able to attend. This year was made even more special after the pandemic shut it down in 2020 and the wildfires smoked them out in 2021.

Keith Stone of Winston-Salem, N.C., has been an Aggie since 1998 and has attended Aggie Camp since 2003.

“Many of us have watched the children of our friends grow up, get married, and even bring their own kids back to camp. We had three generations at camp this year. Makes us proud,” said Stone. “We’re bonded by running but also by age-old friendships. We go back to camp not only for tradition, but because we want to be with our friends and competition partners, even if we’re not competition-ready anymore. We’re seeing the second (and third) generation of camp-goers and it’s a thrill to see other Aggies’ children grow up and succeed.”

Searls has been the Aggie president for 19 years and is now 64. He jokes that he’s trying to get out of the job, but his love for the group and what it does shines through.

“It’s my contribution back to running. Giving back to our young Olympic development athletes is why I keep doing it. The people are awesome,” Searls said.

The Aggies are more than a hobby group, it’s a kind of family introduced through a shared hobby. They challenge and encourage each other to meet goals, whether it’s a local race or making an Olympic team. They have a shared history and family reunions. And every Labor Day weekend you can count on them making their way to the mountains to celebrate another year of running over a campfire with a 5-gallon cooler full of margaritas.

This story was originally published October 5, 2022 at 10:20 AM.