Entrants forge through leg pain, cold winds, in Bataan and Rucsack events
By Franklin Fisher
franklin.s.fisher2.civ@mail.mil
CAMP CASEY South Korea -- Two grueling rucksack races that Area I hosted last week at Camp Casey drew more than 150 entrants who toughed it out through long, often painful miles over hilly terrain in windy, subfreezing weather.
The longer of the two events was the 2012 Bataan Memorial Death March Qualifier, in which the
114 entrants -- all of them Soldiers -- had to cover a 13.1 mile course in uniform, including combat boots, and under a rucksack or other load of at least 35 pounds. It was open
to active- duty personnel only.
Master Sgt. Nathan Stahl, 38, took firstplace with a time of 2 hours 6 minutes., 55 seconds.
The other event was the 2012 Warrior Country Rucksack Challenge, in which 37 entrants faced an eight-mile course under a load of at least 35 pounds, but in civilian clothes. It was open to activeduty personnel and civilians.
1st Lt. Tom Westphal, 24, took first place with a time of 1 hour 10 minutes 4 seconds.
Both races began at 10:10 a.m. from the same start line near the Carey Fitness Center.
Temperatures were below freezing and winds in the area were around 15 miles per hour, said Air Force Capt. Thomas De Luca of the 607th Weather Squadron's Det. 1 at Camp Red Cloud.
"About the last mile I actually started feeling cold because the sweat was now through the shirt and the cold air was hitting it," said Stahl, of Headquarters and Support Company, 602nd Aviation Support Battalion, at Camp Humphreys.
"But up until then it was actually nice," he said.
He's done ruck events before but not in combat boots.
" The first two miles, my calves hurt, only because they weren't ready for that," he said. "Once I got past that point, it was just goin.'
"It's just, the fatigue hits ya, probably around, I don't know, around mile 10, the last five (kilometers) my legs were getting fatigued. It took pushing."
"The ruck is a big difference," said Westphal, the first-place Rucksack Challenge winner. He's executive officer of Headquarters and Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Red Cloud.
"The uphill are a lot harder -- up -- than regular runs," he said. "The uphill is orders of magnitude harder just because you're carrying so much more weight, the gravity, it's that much harder."
Spc. Robert Churches, 23, had a similar experience in the Bataan event, which he finished in 3 hours 1 minute.
"Oh yeah, the last two miles were excruciating, and my legs were just pounding, cramping," said Churches, 23, of Company A, 602nd Aviation Support Battalion.
He and other participants said mental toughness was no less key than physical fitness.
"It's always that last part of the competition that gets ya," he said. "Where ya have to find motivation to dig deep.
How'd he handle the mental part?
"Just kept on saying, 'Almost there...almost there," said Churches. "…Came this far…Can't quit now."
The following were first-place winners in the two events.
BATAAN DEATH MARCH MEMORIAL QUALIFIER: men's division, Master Sgt. Nathan Stahl , Headquarters and Support Company, 602nd Aviation Support Battalion at Camp Humphreys, time, 2:06:55; women's division, Capt. Sindi Connell, Company A, 719th Military Intelligence Battalion, Camp Humphreys, time, 2:35:24; team event, Team 58, representing Company A, 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry, at Camp Casey, time of 2:37:57, Spc. Andre Lessa, Sgt. Anthony Lett, Pfc. Weston Cearbaugh, Pfc. Brandon Wright, Pfc. Young-jae Park.
WARRIOR COUNTRY RUCKSACK CHALLENGE: men's division, 1st Lt. Thomas Westphal, Headquarters and Support Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, time, 1:10:04;
women's division, Brooke Susselman, 1:44:30; team event. Team 90, representing Company E, 6th Battalion, 52nd Air and Missile Defense, at Camp Casey, time of 1:26:44, Pfc. Frank Newsmans, Pfc. Michael Welsh, Pfc. John Foster, Pfc. Wann Reed, Pfc. Alen Stajkowsi.
Korea team to vie in Army-wide Death March event
The upcoming 23rd Annual Bataan Memorial Death March set for March 27 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., covers a 26.2 mile route that winds across dusty, hilly desert terrain where elevations range from about 4,100 to 5,300 feet.
The U.S. Army Garrison Red Cloud's sports and fitness staff will assemble a five-member team of those who took part in last week's qualifier and send them to the White Sands competition.
The event honors the 78,000 American and Filipino troops who underwent what's become known as the "Bataan Death March" as prisoners of the Japanese in April 1942. Many were starved, brutalized, and murdered by the Japanese, who force-marched them more than 60 miles out of the Bataan peninsula in searing heat for a period of days to an internment camp to the north. Thousands died.
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