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Brothers to carry on family tradition by running Bix 7 race together

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By Nate Taylor | Friday, July 25, 2008 |

Jeff, left, and Jake Mahaffey will run the Bix 7 on Saturday along with their father and grandfather. (Contributed photo)

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Carrying on a tradition is something a lot of families do to stay close and connected.

Bruce Mahaffey knows that. He also understands that the last weekend in July every year is a part of his family’s tradition.

“Its something we look forward to every year,” he said. “Since my dad started doing this, the Bix 7 has become a tradition.”

In fact, Saturday’s Quad-City Times Bix 7 will bring the Mahaffey family closer than it has been in the past two years. With Bruce Mahaffey’s sons Jake and Jeff coming back to their hometown of Kewanee, Ill., this week, the family will be among the many to run the Bix 7 together.

But this year will have a little more meaning than in the past as Jeff becomes part of the tradition. He’s never run the Bix before.

“I have never been the running type,” Jeff Mahaffey said. “I talked to my father, and he told me the date of the Bix. Then, Jake and I thought it would be a pretty cool thing to run together. We could not think of anything better to do than run the Bix.”

What makes this year’s race more significant is that Jake and Jeff are both Marines. Jeff, 22, is projected to be deployed to Iraq on Aug. 25 and return in late March. Jake, 29, returned from Iraq last September.

Now, the two brothers — from Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Woodbridge, Va. — along with Bruce and his father, Joe, will make a four-man bond on Saturday.

“It’s the first time we’re all getting together,” Jake Mahaffey said. “It’s something that we all love, and it means even more to have my brother doing it.”

The tradition started back in 1987. Joe Mahaffey ran the Bix 7 then and hasn’t missed a race since. Bruce has run the event 21 times.

For the first time this year, Joe will be running in today’s Brady Street Sprints.

Jake began running the Bix in 1997. He has done it five times and now has brought Jeff into the mix.

“For me, being able to run in the race they have done is important to me,” Jeff Mahaffey said. “To be a part of it, I feel like I’m that last piece that’s getting into it.”

After the Bix, the family plans to have a barbecue at Joe’s house. It’s likely to be the family’s last time with Jeff before he goes to Iraq.

“My brother and I already have a great bond,” Jake Mahaffey said. “To get him into this family tradition gives him a lasting memory before he goes to his new experience. I know this will give him something to lift his spirits when he is away.”

Nate Taylor can be contacted at (563) 383-2477 or ntaylor@qctimes.com.