Sometimes two are better than one.

Such is the case in running clubs, and now Oak Harbor youngsters have a pair of options when looking for a place to stay fit through running.

The Whidbey Island Running Club, which partnered with the North Whidbey Parks and Recreation District in November 2008, recently split from the Park District to form Running Unlimited Fitness (RUFIT).

After the departure, NWPRD started a new group, the North Whidbey Running Club, under the direction of coach Megan Hall.

Catie Rodeheffer, who coaches RUFIT with her husband Bill, said the club and its athletes left the Park District  because the two organizations were “going in different directions” and their philosophies didn’t line up.

Rodeheffer said RUFIT  wants to cater to multi-sport athletes and charge kids only when they participate in practice and not require a flat fee for a season.

Rodeheffer said multi-sport athletes have busy schedules and can’t consistently commit to the club but can take advantage of its training when time allows. She said, “Not everyone wants to be a great runner. Some want to be great football players; some want to be great soccer players.”

She added, “To keep them tied into the club, we need to allow them to attend practice as their needs arise.”

The club charges $20 for 10 visits and all of the money goes back into the club for items such as travel and meet fees. All of the coaches are unpaid volunteers.

RUFIT has become a nonprofit organization and is affiliated with the Road Runners Club of America and USA Track and Field.

Rodeheffer said, “This non-profit status with no paychecks being drawn will allow us to do some exciting things for the kids. We are all about making fitness available, enjoyable and attainable for Oak Harbor kids.”

The Rodeheffers also see the club as a way to “help the high school athletic program” and serve as a “base” to get athletes started on successful high-school careers.

The club has about 65 athletes, and the number fluctuates as participants come and go depending on their commitments to school sports.

Bill Rodeheffer has 15 years of coaching experience, including a stint as the head track coach at Mercer Island High School and stops in South Dakota and Taiwan. He and his wife are USATF level-one certified coaches. They are assisted by Diane Fisken, Amy Jansen and Janet Pauley. Jansen and Pauley competed collegiately.

For information about RUFIT, call Catie Rodeheffer at 279-2196 or visit its website, www.rufit.ws.

Hall has the task of starting the new North Whidbey Running Club from scratch and has about a half-dozen athletes joining her for practice at North Whidbey Middle School at 4:15 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. She expects the group, which welcomes anyone 4 years old and up, to grow “as the word gets out.” She said the club will eventually train for and run in races and events.

Hall, like Rodeheffer, said she doesn’t see the other running club as competition in “any shape or form.” She added, “My main focus is to simply focus on our goals for our club…I just want the kids that do come out through NWPR to develop a love for running.”

Hall’s goals are “to inspire kids to just love the outdoors,” and help them stay “fit, active and healthy.”

She added, “Now with the popularity of video games, movies, computers and such, there are more and more kids becoming sedentary.”

“I am excited to coach kids,” she said, “especially since it’s the age that I got into running and I have seen how much it has shaped me.”

She added, “There are so many benefits to being active and developing friendships.”

Hall said her passion for running was cultivated by a running club she joined in the fifth grade. From there she competed in track and cross country through middle school, high school and college. Recently she turned her training focus to ultrarunning.

For more information about the North Whidbey Running Club, contact Hall at 360-672-2262 or wirchall@gmail.com, or email assistant coach Curtis Vieke at curtvieke@yahoo.com.

(It’s all smiles for Zachary Saho, left, and Savannah Saho as they begin a relay race at a RUFIT practice Monday.)