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Marathon - Its not just another morning PT session

Jun-28-2005 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

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John Pennell
Fort Richardson PAO

ANCHORAGE – Thirty-three 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment Soldiers volunteered to go the distance in this year’s Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon, a grueling 26.2-mile race from Bartlett High School across Anchorage to the finish line at West High School. Thirty-two Soldiers finished the race June 18 – five finished in under four hours.

What does it say for a unit’s physical training program when a group of Soldiers can, with little or no extra training, be competitive in a long-distance race against veteran marathoners?

If you ask Capt. Roger Craig, commander of Company A, 4th Bn. 23rd Inf., he’ll tell you they’re just being Soldiers.

“The Army PT program trains Soldiers to be well-rounded,” he explained. “Any one of these guys who ran on Saturday could road march with a rucksack for 26 miles and still do a mission at the end.

“They could sprint 400 meters or two miles with combat gear and fight upon arrival,” he said. “They have the upper body strength to climb ropes, ladders, buildings, trees and any other object that gets in their way or will give them a tactical advantage.

“None of them will ever win a marathon, but all of them will succeed in combat because of their physical fitness,” he said. “I don’t think any of the top 25 finishers could come close to keeping up with my last Soldier to finish the race on a 26-mile ruck march!”

The marathon is sanctioned by USA Track and Field and is recognized by the Boston Marathon as a qualifying event according to the event’s official Web site. Two of the 4-23 runners, Rob Dapice and Riley Post finished well enough to qualify for the Boston event.

Dapice finished in 26th place with a time of three hours, eight minutes and 21 seconds. Post’s time of 3:09:56 was good enough for 29th place out of nearly 4,000 registered participants.


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