More championships were claimed and race miles were logged during an eventful sports year on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Popular sporting events like the Capitol Basketball Classic and JBM-HH Commander's Race Series are promised in 2015.
Intramural championships in basketball, flag football and volleyball were not the only titles claimed in 2014. The Fort Myer Generals - both the men's and women's teams - won February's Capitol Classic; the men added a Washington Area Military Athletic Conference tournament title which was held in late March and early April.
The pros also stopped at JBM-HH to say hello. Carolina Panthers' players Thomas Davis and Ryan Kalil signed autographs and posed for pictures at United Service Organizations' Honor Guard Lounge on the Fort Myer portion of the joint base during May, and a group of D.C. United soccer players spent a late April afternoon sharing kicking tips with military kids.
From March through December, the Fort Myer Fitness Center and Henderson Hall's Cpl. Terry L. Smith Gymnasium were the sites of the Commander's Race Series and the Oorah Running Series, respectively. New wrinkles were added to the Fort Myer portion of the race series with the awarding of a holiday race coin for those finishing the Halloween Demon and Doggie Dash, Thanksgiving Turkey Trot and December Ugly Sweater Run. In July, JBM-HH runners were introduced to the Firecracker "Twinkie Challenge," in which runners were required to munch on snack cakes at the race's halfway point.
All those races - plus Fort McNair's Cherry Blossom Run and a new race, May 1's Rockin' and Reelin' Sock Hop Run - are on Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation's racing schedule in 2015.
"The Twinkie Challenge was the first one we've ever done, and the Cherry Blossom Run at Fort McNair is the first time FMWR sponsored a run at McNair," said FMWR recreation specialist Todd Hopkins. "At Halloween, we incorporated dogs into the run and those three runs will be continuing in 2015."
A 2015 spring challenge race coin series is being planned for the 2015 racing season.
Other notable events that took place on base or which JBM-HH service members participated in included:
- The first-ever Semper Fit bench press competition at Smith Gymnasium in January drew a healthy turnout, and a follow-up competition in April had over 20 lifters in attendance.
- Also in April, Henderson Hall Headquarters and Service Battalion Commander Col. Anthony S. Barnes ventured to Massachusetts for the 2014 Boston Marathon. He finished in a time of three hours, 54 minutes and 29 seconds.
- The Fort Myer men's master team placed third in their division during the 30th anniversary running of the Army Ten-Miler Oct. 12. Two weeks later, the Marine Corps Marathon finished in the late-morning shadows of the Iwo Jima Memorial.
- While the Washington Redskins formed a military appreciation club, groups of service members and their families took advantage of a number of meets and greets with the local National Football League team. In May, members of 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) visited Redskin Park for face-to-face meetings with some Redskins. In August, Old Guard Soldiers were again treated to a special military appreciation day at FedEx Field, and an autumn Play 60 fitness fun day involved JBM-HH kids and personnel and produced Redskin standouts Alfred Morris and Robert Griffin III.
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