Volunteers: Erle Daniels (scoring), Sharon Boehlke (registration), Emily Bryans (refreshments), Steve Sweeney (finish line), Tom Bulger (water stop & event jester), Megan Leitzinger & Ed Neiles (timing). Director: Vince Juliano.

The Pentathlon may be the HMRRC's version of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. A traveling road show of sorts, full of skilled participants that make the difficult look easy, and entertaining to the core.

This year the show arrived at a new venue, Shaker High School, after stops in prior years at Schenectady HS, Colonie HS, and SUNY of Albany. Heat & humidity typical of the dog days of August were mercifully absent this year, for this difficult test of speed and endurance over 5 measured distances on a 400-meter track. Many of the familiar characters of past Pentathlon's returned to do battle including two-time defending champions Jamie Rodriguez & Tara Sheedy. Other skilled members of this year's circus included head ringmaster Jim Bowles, and a great supporting cast of Chuck Terry, Adrian Soto, Vikki McKane, Jim Sweeney, Parker Race and veterans Martha Degrazia & Nancy Taormina to name a few.

New talent this year came from the Saratoga Spa, as Nolan Tully and Sean Curran put in thoroughbred performances in their maiden Pentathlon try.

The initial 5K race quickly shaped up as a 3-way battle between Terry and Blue Steak teammates past and present, Tully & Curran. The three did battle for 12 laps before Tully edged clear to run a 16:35, to win by a second over Curran with Terry three seconds back. Noticeably absent from the fray was defending champion Rodriquez who choose to run a leisurely 18:03 to conserve energy for the upcoming events. Vikki Mckane earned an impressive 700 points with a quickly run 5k in 19:20 to lead the women's race.

Those who paid admission would not go away disappointed as Rodriquez & Tully would crank it up in the ensuing events. Lighter entertainment would be provided by town jester Tom Bulger who sparingly dispersed water to thirsty runners in between long winded monologues, and Dakota (the circus canine) who would bark at every yellow Utopia jersey that ran by.

Rodriquez would win the 800-meter race over Curran and Tully in a preview of the evenings most impressive run, a record shattering 3200 meter run timed in 9:35. The old record of 9:51 had held since 1983, when 2:18 marathoner Brian Reinhold set the mark. Rodriquez would receive 1040 points for the effort as he easily won the event by 26 seconds over Tully. Perhaps in awe of their teammate, Adrian Soto and Parker Race would miscount their laps on the 400- meter oval. Since it was announced prior to the event that each runner was responsible for counting his or her own laps, Soto had to accept his time for running an extra lap while Race was given a pace predicted time for running a lap short.

Nancy Taormina (43) received her highest point total of the night in the 3200 meter run on her way to setting a new women's masters mark of 2779 points, eclipsing the 17 year old mark of 2342 points run by Anne Stockman at age 53.

The final event, the 1600-meter run had dramatic finishes in both the men's and women's divisions to cap off an exciting evening. Tully led Rodriquez for every stride of the 4-lap contest except the final one, as the two runners lunged to the finish line in a virtual dead-heat. Both runners ran 4:41 as officials gave the battle to Rodriquez but declared Tully the overall Pentathlon champion by a score of 4852 to 4797. Tully's score was the second highest in the 18 year history of the event trailing only the year 2000 score of Rodriquez (4931). Sean Curran ran a 4:45 1600 meter final to secure third place overall and become only the 9th person to join the elite 4700 point club. Vikki Mckane surged at the wire to edge Tara Sheedy as both runners ran 5:55 in the final event. McKane took the overall Pentathlon women's title with an impressive point total of 3095. Every circus must unfortunately have a closing act, and the Pentathlon tradition is to close the big tent after BJ Sotile crosses the finish line in the final mile. This remarkable 70-year old women, competes in the Pentathlon each and every year. She may only earn the minimum 5 points per event, but she has the respect and admiration of everyone on the track. In recent years the Pentathlon has attracted the best young local running talent, names like Zack Yannone, Nick Conway, Jaimie Rodriquez, Tyson Evensen, and this year Nolan Tully & Sean Curran, yet runners of more modest ability are always welcome to test themselves in one of the more challenging events on the HMRRC schedule. Pentathlon "power" pens and Italian cookies were awarded to the winners of 10-year age groups and all participants enjoyed an assorted array of fruit and cookies as darkness fell on the Shaker track. Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Erle Daniels & Sharon B. (scoring), Ed Neiles & Megan Leizinger (timing), Steve Sweeney (finish cards), Emily Bryans (refreshments), Tom Bulger (water), and Dakota (Pentathlon mascot), the Pentathlon Circus plans to return next August to a 400-meter track near you!