Fort McCoy will host a socially distanced Army Ten-Miler event at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 11 at Rumpel Fitness Center on post.
The event is in cooperation with the overall 36th Army Ten-Miler, Virtual Edition. Because of the pandemic, organizers cleared the way for installations and teams to hold their own races through the Army Ten-Miler Runner Experience.
The Army Ten-Miler is conducted by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and is a 10-mile race that normally starts and finishes near the Pentagon and takes runners through the streets of Washington. Tens of thousands of runners from all 50 states and many foreign countries registered for the 2019 event, making it one of the largest 10-mile road races in the world, according to organizers.
The race’s virtual edition calls for teams to compete in a race between Oct. 11 and 18. The race has to be completed in one session from start to finish, and the results will then be submitted to an Army Ten-Miler link and subsequently evaluated by the Army Ten-Miler Timing Company, according to race instructions.
The Fort McCoy race will be held rain or shine and is organized by the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (DFMWR). It will include staggered start times for all participants and the top male and female competitors as well as top team will be recognized.
Temperature checks will be performed before race begins and participation is open to all DFMWR eligible patrons. Registration must be completed by Oct. 9, organizers said.
A year ago, Team Fort McCoy sent two teams of runners to the 2019 Army Ten-Miler competition Oct. 13, 2019, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and came away with first- and fifth-place finishes in the Reserve-Mixed category.
“My thoughts on the team, as the coach, can be summed up in one word — proud,” said Tony Steinhoff, the director of Mission Installation Contracting Command-McCoy and an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel with the 88th Readiness Division in 2019. “I’m so proud of each and every team member for sticking to the training plan and giving it their all on race day.”
Steinhoff was the fastest male runner for the 2019 team at 1:01:43. Lt. Col. Nancy McCoy with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command was the fastest female runner at 1:20:10. Fort McCoy Team 1 earned its first-place category finish with a time of 4:35:36. Fort McCoy Team 2 placed fifth in the category with a time of 5:11:19.
For 2020, Steinhoff is still the coach and a member of the team.
“The plan is incredibly simple this year,” Steinhoff said. “I previously sent the team our training plan from last year and instructed them depending upon their individual levels — based on their personal training — they can start at the beginning of the training plan and cut it in half and taper a week before the race or start in the middle and taper a week before the race.
“I stressed for them not to push themselves too hard trying to catch up on lost time with regards to training.” Steinhoff said. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not train as a group on a regular basis.”
In addition to Steinhoff, team members include Maj. Joe P. Fee, 88th Readiness Division (RD); Capt. Michael Carkhuff, 3rd Battalion, 340th Brigade Engineer Battalion; Master Sgt. Donna Vance, Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA); 1st Sgt. Theresa Ertl, 847th Human Resources Company; Sgt. 1st Class David G. Moseley, 88th RD; and Staff Sgts. Victor Mendoza and Orlando Burgos-Febus, Fort McCoy NCOA.
Steinhoff said the team will do their best to compete, and he looks forward to see what they can do.
“I’m hopeful next year things will be different, and we can get started on the process much earlier so we can hold tryouts to give more Soldiers an opportunity to compete in this great event,” Steinhoff said.
“There are a lot of unknowns with this year’s team since only four of the eight competed in last year’s event, but I’m excited to see how well the team fairs locally and nationally through this unique virtual process.
“I’m also extremely grateful that the Fort McCoy Garrison command sergeant major (Command Sgt. Maj. Paul Mantha) collaborated with many of the great organizations on Fort McCoy to make this event a reality for everyone this year,” Steinhoff said.
“Those organizations included the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation and the amazing Rumpel Fitness Center staff, the Directorate of Emergency Services, and the Challenge Academy. Thank you to everyone.”
For more information about the Fort McCoy event, contact staff at Rumpel Fitness Center.
For more information about the overall Army Ten-Miler, visit https://www.armytenmiler.com.
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