Orcas Island’s first track team debuted in the 1960s

By Colleen Smith • May 27, 2023 1:30 am

The 2023 Vikings’ track team has been touted as the first of its kind.

But long-time islander Barry Madan is setting the record straight.

“Orcas High School had track and field from 1961 to 1976, at least,” he said. “People who participated and currently live on Orcas include Bill Perry, Jerry Todd, Rich Madan, Mike Bartram, David Guilford, Steve Guilford, Wally Gudgell, Clark Cundy, Patty Moran and me.”

According to Madan, in the 1960s, when there weren’t baseball teams, Orcas, Lopez and Friday Harbor all had track teams and competed against each other. At the end of the season, all three teams competed in the San Juan County meet, which Orcas won several times.

The Orcas students’ high jump and pole vault pits were piles of sawdust and the track was very short and primarily gravel. One lap was 1/8 of a mile instead of the standard 1/4 mile.

“To run a mile, we had to do 8 laps; for the 2 mile, it was 16 laps—which led to confusion at times as to which lap you were on!” Madan laughed.

In 1967, the Vikings won the district meet in addition to the county meet. In 1968, Orcas Island’s Bobby Nicol came in second in the pole vault at the combined A and B state tournament wearing a pair of borrowed shoes because his sneakers had long spikes to accommodate the dirt runway on Orcas and the state meet was on a rubberized surface.