After many years of mild complaining to barely interested friends on the Monon Trail, saying "before COVID, Carmel had a club team after Pup Running that accepted 4th and 5th graders and kept running through the Junior Olympics", one brave (some may say foolish) person chose to recreate such a club in 2025.

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In a blurry dash in September 2025, long time Carmel Elementary Pup Running coach Kevin Hetrick hastily assembled a club, eventually compelling 3 other coaches and 32 families / students to come along for the ride for that inaugural season. With that, Pup2Pack XC was born.

 

All things considered, the first season was a fun success.  The team ran in the USA Track & Field (USATF) Indianapolis Grand Prix at Pike High School.  We held a time trial at Northview Church with Carmel Project (Carmel's middle school club), complete with pacers, timing, and donuts.  And the club capped the season off with a visit to the USATF Junior Olympics meet in Shelbyville, with the age 9-10 boys team finishing top five in the State.  Of 15 families to complete the year-end survey, on a scale of 1 to 10: Twelve families rated the program a 10; two rated the season a 9; and one family considered it a 7 (we'll win them over this year!)

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