Three generations of the Ridge family, including two Creek Road Runners—81-year-old CRR Doug Ridge and his 46-year-old son, CRR Clark Ridge—participated in the Philadelphia Runner Track Club Indoor Classic: All-Comers Meet, which was held Saturday, March 7, 2026, at the Ott Center—the University of Pennsylvania’s new indoor track facility.

The two CRRs were joined by the elder Ridge’s 16-year-old granddaughter, Violet (who was recovering from bronchitis), and 14-year-old grandson, Calvin. The four entered the distance medley relay (DMR) as “Team Ridge.”

Calvin did the 800m leg after having already run a ten-second personal best (4:47) in winning his mile heat. His dad, Clark, was participating in the DMR after having run 3km (9:56, 3rd Masters) and mile (5:16) races.

Going into the DMR, Doug’s goal was to match his high school 880-yd. time (1:57) for his 400m leg, roughly half the distance but at five times his high school age. He accomplished this by a matter of seconds.

Violet opened with the 1200m leg in 4:35, then passed the baton to grandfather Doug for the 400m, which he covered in 1:54. In turn, he passed the baton to grandson Calvin for a 2:17 800m, who then passed the baton to his dad, Clark, who finished with a 5:17 1600m anchor leg for a total time of 14:04—just four seconds off their aimed-for target.

Team Ridge placed 18th of out of 24 teams. They believe they would have won among three-generation family teams or among teams spanning 67 years of age and including at least one female.

Although Clark Ridge and his family live in College Park, Md., they are in Newark frequently and take every opportunity to continue the long family tradition of running along White Clay Creek on Creek Road. Doug still routinely runs Creek Road several days a week.

Certainly, one can conclude that, beside the baton, this family has also passed to one another the “speed” gene.