Running with the blossoms: FMWR races again at Fort McNair

By Jim Dresbach, Pentagram Staff WriterApril 16, 2015

Running with the blossoms: FMWR races again at Fort McNair
With the Washington Monument, Washington Channel and the Hains Point cherry blossoms as a backdrop, runners of all ages participate in the 2nd annual Race Along the River 4.5K Run and 2.5K Walk April 10 on the Fort McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-H... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Throughout the United States, the season of spring brings a flurry of exercise, jogging and running. At Louisville's Churchill Downs, three-year-old thoroughbreds will run for the roses in the Kentucky Derby the first Saturday of May.

Nearly a month before the first leg of horseracing's famed Triple Crown, Old Guard Soldiers, civilians and service members braved damp weather to run with the cherry blossoms.

With the world-renowned blossoms at near-peak on the Fort McNair portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall and nearby Hains Point, close to 100 runners and walkers ran or walked in the 2nd annual Cherry Blossom Race Along the River 4.5K Run and 2.5K Walk, and they withstood damp and dreary conditions to pound the pavement April 10.

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall's Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation normally conducts its races on the Fort Myer portion of JBM-HH but switched venues to include a blossomy backdrop on a cold Friday morning.

"They like the idea that we're running at McNair," said FMWR Race Organizer Todd Hopkins. "They also like running here because it is a family atmosphere."

The overall male winner was John Ramsey in a time of 16 minutes and 49 seconds, and the best female time was posted by Rheanna Felton in 21:13.

The cherry blossoms were never blueprinted for the third-oldest Army base-overpopulation originally brought the cherry trees to Fort McNair. In the 1920s, some of the legendary trees in Potomac Park, which were planted too close to one another, were transplanted to the vicinity of the National War College.

According to a 2010 tree census, 70 cherry trees populate the lower half of Fort McNair, and in 2012, 10 additional trees were planted on Fort McNair's Greenleaf Point.

The next JBM-HH FMWR Commander's Race will be held May 1 when a 1950s-theme race, The Rockin' & Reelin' Sock Hop 5K Run and 1-Mile Walk, will start and finish at the Fort Myer Fitness Center. The May 1 race start time is 6:45 a.m.

The cherry blossom race was the second run of the three-part Spring Race Series Challenge to earn a racing challenge coin. Runners and walkers taking part in all FMWR's spring races will be presented a specially-made Spring Race Series Challenge Coin.