FORT STEWART, Ga. - The seventh annual Top of the Rock Run, held at Fort Stewart, Sept. 26, turned out to be very much an Army Family event.
The 5K and 10K runs had the friendly - yet determined - competitiveness that unites and toughens Army Families facing a challenge, whether that challenge is a run for a trophy or an impending, imminent deployment.
There were individuals chasing goals with Family Members at their sides. There were Families competing with the hope of taking home a trophy, or just participating together for fun.
Company-level Army units ran as one, hoping to capture a trophy and the bragging rights that go with being tops in a competition.
Some moms and dads pushed their children in strollers as they made their way through the 5K or 10K courses, paying more attention to how the youngsters were faring than the time they were making in the run.
Organizers said 214 participated in the Top of the Rock Run in humid conditions, which tested runners' endurance. More than 100 ran the 5K and the remainder ran the 10K, organizers said.
Chief Warrant Officer Dwayne Guidry joked that he had "no idea" why he was running the 5K, (the Army makes him run, he said), then quickly added he was supporting wife Darlene in her first 5K. Son Trent, 10, and daughter Brea, 11, also were there to support her mom.
After the event, a tired Darlene Guidry said she wasn't accustomed to the humidity - because most of her training was done during the evenings - and that affected her time.
"But I now can say that I finished a 5K," she said.
The Top of the Rock Run was all about Family for Maj. Kealii Morris of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team. He guided Leilani, 10, and Kekoa, 6, through a regimen of stretching exercises shortly before the 5K. He said the Top of the Rock Run was a good way to have some fun together, particularly as "we're getting ready to deploy." The Family ran in last year's Top of the Rock Run as well.
Family Members joined Maj. Gen. Tony Cuculo, 3rd Infantry Division commander; Fort Stewart Garrison Commander Col. Kevin Milton and Hunter Garrison Commander Lt. Col. Jose Aguilar in the Top of the Rock Run.
Fort Stewart Garrison Sgt. Maj. James Ervin also ran in the Top of the Rock.
Kelly Franz, who lives in Ludowici, said she ran the 5K "for fitness, to be a good Mom and to teach my boys (Ayden, 5, and Joshua, 2) to stay fit."
Andrew Lopez, a Liberty High School senior, won the 5K for the second consecutive year, with a time of 18:51. He's the son of Alonso and Monica Lopez of Hinesville.
Private First Class William Morgan of the 226th Quartermaster Company, 87th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, won the overall 10K honors, posting a time of 37:16. He proudly told his wife, Nikiya, holding their year-old son, Jaiden, "I beat em, Babe!"
Morgan said he felt comfortable during the race.
"I set out to stay in front of everybody and to set my pace the whole time, he said. "That was my objective."
During an awards ceremony following the event, Maj. Gen. Cuculo praised all of the participants for an "outstanding job.
"It's great to see the companies out, with the guidons," he said. He also thanked the Youth Challenge Academy teams for participating.
Assisting Maj. Gen. Cuculo in presenting the various awards were Col. Milton, Lt. Col. Aguilar and Command Sgt. Maj. Ervin.
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