First Army/RIA Army Ten-Miler teams place 1st, 29th in nation's capital

By Sgt. 1st Class Shannon Wright, ASC Public AffairsOctober 20, 2015

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1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – From left, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jean Belizaire, U.S. Army Sustainment Command; Lt. Col. Joseph Gray, First Army; Master Sgt. Efren Delpilar, ASC; Capt. Travis Lynch, ASC; and Capt. Justin Bergen, ASC, compete at the Army Ten-Miler in Washington, D... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
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4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Members of the First Army/Rock Island Arsenal Sergeants Major team stand with Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey (second from left); Maj. Gen. Bradley Becker (far left), commanding general, Joint Force Headquarters-National Capital Region and U.S. A... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. -- Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, sent two teams to compete in the Army Ten-Miler event at Washington, D.C., Oct. 10, bringing home first- and 29th-place finishes.

The First Army/RIA Sergeants Major team included Command Sgt. Maj. Sam Young, First Army, RIA; Sgt. Maj. Timothy Metcalf, First Army, RIA; Sgt. Maj. Jurgen Williams, U.S. Army Sustainment Command, RIA; Command Sgt. Maj. Donald Rose, Jr., First Army, Maryland; Sgt. Maj. Nathan Espey, First Army, Maryland; and Command Sgt. Maj. Todd Yerger, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin.

The team placed first out of 15 Sergeants Major teams earning an award, as well as a coin from Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey.

"I have been running since 1993 when I started to record all my runs and races," said Williams. "I was part of the Run for Life program where I accumulated over 10,000 miles within nine and a half years, even during deployments."

Williams said he has more than 26,000 miles of recorded running and has run the Boston Marathon twice, as well as marathons in Berlin, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; Hamburg, Germany; and Frankfurt, Germany; and an estimated 25 half-marathons.

In addition to the First Army/RIA Sergeants Major team, eight Soldiers, all assigned to the Arsenal, competed in the Army Ten-Miler Active-Duty Mixed team category. The combined times of the top four finishers earned a 29th-place finish out of 159 teams.

Lt. Col. Joseph Gray, First Army, ran 1:19:49; Lt. Col. Dan Segura, Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Region, ran 1:14:45; Capt. Justin Bergen, ASC, ran 1:10:06; Capt. Travis Lynch, ASC, ran 1:12:57; 1st Lt. Mamie Sparacino, Joint Munitions Command, ran 1:35:08; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jean Belizaire, ASC, ran 1:07:09; Master Sgt. Efren Delpilar, ASC, ran 1:13:24; and Master Sgt. Jamila Moody, ASC, ran 1:21:45.

"It is always an honor and a great feeling when you go compete and represent not only yourself but the whole post," said Delpilar, who has also participated in two Quad Cities marathons, the Quad City Times 2015 Bix 7 and the LiveFit with Lupus half-marathon.

"(I wanted to) challenge myself and hopefully inspire others that if I can do it, they can do it as well," he said.

JMC's Sparacino has also competed in two marathons and an Army Ten-Miler shadow race in Afghanistan.

"As an athlete in high school and college, it was important to me to find a competitive race -- but also after coming home from Afghanistan, I knew I had to do the Ten-Miler on U.S. soil -- it made it that much more meaningful to have done it in both places," she said.

Now in its 31st year, the Army Ten-Miler is held each October in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to promote the Army, support Army fitness goals and build on community relations. The money raised benefits Soldier programs.