It’s been one combination or another over the years. They were once called “Three Saints and a Sinner.” Another time it was “Reduced, Recycled and ReRowdied.”

No matter what, a combination of close-knit runners from the Vigilante Track club have continued to push the pack at the Governor’s Cup relay race since 2001. When the starting gun fires at 6:30 a.m. today, it will be no different.

More than 60 athletes congregate at Vigilante Stadium Tuesday afternoons, and each summer a four-person relay team assembles to try for the coveted race title, as well as challenge the top single marathon runner to a not-so-mano-a-mano duel.

So far, they’ve been successful, picking up four wins in the relay division over the last six years.

“This is one of the few (races) that we really pull for during the course of the year,” said Pat Judge, the main organizer for the Vigilante Track club and relay team member. “The race means a lot to me, because it got started under my dad’s administration.”

Pat, the son of former Montana governor Thomas L. Judge, who established the first Governor’s Cup event in 1974, has been the center of the relay team five of the last six years, winning the last three and in 2003.

He also has individual wins in the 10-kilometer and 20-kilometer races, which ended nine years ago, and won the marathon with a time of 2:40:22 in 1999. The 38-year-old has run every Governor’s Cup over the past 28 years.

While he holds his individual victories close to his heart, he said he’s come to love the relay race more and more each year.

“I prefer it anymore,” Judge said. “The camaraderie is the best part.

“At the end of the day, it’s just about participating with all the guys.”

Last year the team of Judge, Peter Dan Sullivan, Jeff Thomas and Rowdy Sargeson won the relay race, which covers the same ground as the marathon (26.2 miles).

With exception of Thomas, each one of those runners had been on a winning team in the past. They probably would have teamed up again this time around, but injuries forced them to change the lineup.

Thomas has suffered a number of injuries, meanwhile Sargeson broke his ankle and needed several plates and screws to help hold it together.

So, Judge and Sullivan will return as the mainstays, meanwhile Brian Wieck and Thomas Jodoin will join the team, both for their first time.

“I think it’s a great honor, all those guys are really talented,” said Wieck, who coaches the Class A Helena Reps baseball team. “I haven’t let them down in any of the other relays, and taking it over for Jeff is an honor.”

Jeff Thomas is considered by many in the local running community to be a bit of an icon. He is an 11-time Mount Helena winner, but with his injuries will be volunteering as a race announcer at the finish line. Still, the four consider him an honorary member of the group or “Piriformis Emeritus.”

Wieck, who will open the race by running the first 6.5-mile leg, is a strong substitute for the absentee. He’s an assistant coach for Carroll College’s cross-country squad and has wins in the Governor’s Cup half-marathon and 20K.

Thomas Jodoin, meanwhile, is also feeling a little pressure. The youngest, 27, and fastest runner on the team will have the duty of running the second and longest leg at 7.2 miles. Last week he ran a 1,600-meter time trial in 4:29.

“I am taking it seriously, I want to run a fast leg and contribute as much as I can,” Jodoin said. “I think we have a certain amount of pride on the line, with four guys running a relay to try to beat the individual runner.”

“There’s a certain amount of pride. We don’t want to get beat by one guy.”

Last year, the team had that exact problem. While they won the relay, they lost to an individual marathon runner, Bozeman’s Scott Creel, who basically paced them the entire way.

Now, when they talk about the 2007 win, they always mention the little asterisk that follows.

This year they’ll be facing off with a number of professionals from Missouri known as “Team 180.” They’re led by Brian Glass, who is looking to run around 2:30.

Wieck, meanwhile, has been housing another top contender as a marathon winner, Zach Strong. A 2001 graduate of Great Falls High, Strong spent his collegiate days running at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and won the 2007 Montana Cup. Strong is currently interning in Helena for the summer as he finishes up law school.

In honor of “Team 180,” the Vigilante relay squad has decided to name themselves “Team 360,” which makes Judge especially proud since their first option was “Frothy Ostrich.”

“Embarassingly, I tend to froth at the mouth at times during competition, and Thomas Jodoin has been known to resemble an ostrich,” Judge said.

No matter what the name is, Sullivan hopes they’ve found the right combination to beat out the rest of the racers this year.

Sullivan, who will run the 6.5-mile, uphill anchor leg, proves that age can often be overcome by experience. He has run a 4:39 mile recently, and at the age of 43 won the Men’s Masters Mile in Bozeman in January.

Still, that doesn’t mean he won’t be surrounding himself with even stronger runners.

“I found there comes a point when you’re not going to win an individual race, so I surround myself with guys that are younger, faster and illiterate,” he said. “When they come across a newspaper, they won’t ever read it so they won’t know they’re getting taken advantage of.”

Judge, who will take the third leg, a 6-mile long stretch of flat ground, said that the relay race can have an influence on how a person runs. In one sense, there’s more anonymity because the individual’s success depends on others.

“And then there is more pressure in the sense that you have the teammates that you’re trying not to let down,” Judge said.

All four teammates share a similar philosophy. While they enjoy running and it often drives their daily routine, it isn’t a relaxed sport. They all share the same competitive spirit that pushes them to win, and for the older ones, cheat age a little bit.

“For me, having a goal like this really helps motivate my training and my overall personal fitness,” Judge said. “I think all of us are hard-wired as competitive personality types. “Hopefully we’ll continue to do that as long as possible.”

Reporter Jeff Windmueller: 447-4070 or irsports@helenair.com