Nick Berra is a beast at the runners pentathlon — an annual event contested this year at Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The meet was held August 10, and Chuck Shields graciously shared results, together with this writeup: “The 2014 Advanced Sports Chiropractic Runners Pentathlon was held at Carey Stadium and Athletic Complex on the campus of Germantown Academy. The competition was a USATF-sanctioned event produced by the Greater Philadelphia Track Club. Runners competed in five events, 3000m, 200m, 1500m, 100m (in order) with the final event being the option of the 400m or 800m. 2014 was the third year for the team competition in which three-person teams competed in the same 5 events, but in separate heats. The scoring was age-graded with cash prizes for the top five individuals. All participants received award certificates proclaiming that they were “Still Alive after Five!” The winning team also received a cash prize.” The individual results are here. The team results are here. And a series of short videos are here. Nice work! Video shows Nick and other top finishers.

The release continued:

44 competitors, ranging in age from 14 to 78, entered the Individual Pentathlon. For the 2nd year in a row, 7 runners broke the 400 point barrier. But consistency won the day for Nick Berra (M45), of Enola, PA.

Nick’s scores ranged from 83.42% in the 100 to 88.64% in the 800. Only a 5 point differential! Nick’s score of 429.60 was only a point behind his 2013 winning mark of 430.76, the event record. 800 meter runners were dominant as 4 of the top 5 scorers were 2-lappers.

The following four places were Mark Williams (M41)(419.33%) of Columbia, NJ, Vicki Fox (F55)(419.11) of Huntington, NY, Kevin Forde (M50)(417.50) of Philadelphia, PA and Peter Brady (M42)(416.81) of Jersey City, NJ. 

Twelve teams participated in this year’s version of the Team Pentathlon, now in it’s third year. The Athena Track Club squad of Mary Swan, Doreen McCoubrie and Beth Shisler won the event by 6 points over Greater Philadelphia Track Club.

The meet director was Kyle Mecklenborg.  Pete Taylor once again did the announcing duties.  Volunteers were mostly from Greater Philadelphia TC.

Here is a brief explanation of how the meet works:

Each runner competed in 5 track races (3000m – 200m – 1500m – 100m – 400m/800m), with a minimum of
30 minutes recovery time between races. Athletes chose either the 400m or the 800m for their fifth event (400m
and 800m heats alternated).

With an equal mix of sprints and distance events (order as above), this challenging 
(but fun!) competition pitted sprinter against distance runner to determine the best all-around track runner. Races 
were timed using the fully automatic Finish Lynx Timing System.

To ensure approximately the same recovery time 
between races for all participants, runners were seeded in the same overall order for each race no matter the 
distance, taking into consideration their most recent Mile and 400m times.  


Due to the unique format of this meet, the field was limited to 54 runners. Cash awards were 5-deep in the 
individual competition, with a Champion’s trophy to the overall winner.



In addition to the Individual Competition, a separate Team Competition was run 
concurrently. In heats separate from those of the individual competitors, three-person teams divided up the 
five events to determine the best all-around track team. One team member per race and each team member 
enters at least one race.

Teams were of any age (14 y/o minimum) or gender.  There was a cash award and trophy 
for the winning team and trophies for 2nd & 3rd place teams.



SCORING was age-graded using the World Masters Association’s 2006 age/gender-graded tables. Points were 
tabulated for each race (the age/gender-graded percentage), and awards based on the cumulative percentages 
for the five races.

This meet presented a rare opportunity for men and women, young and old, to compete directly 
against each other on a level playing field.