Authorized newspaper of Fort Lewis, Washington
Lt. Col. Adam Rocke, commander of 2-3 Inf., leads his team across the finish line during the Sound to Narrows military race. The Patriots won the 12K event, overtaking the 864th Engineer Battalion in the final mile of the race.
Running at a nice, steady pace helped Patriots of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment overtake 864th Engineer Battalion in the final mile and claim victory in the military portion of the Sound to Narrows 12K race in last Saturday’s early morning hours.
“It was a nice, long challenging race,” said Adam Rocke, 2-3 Inf. commander. “We just kept our pace the whole way, didn’t worry about the hills, didn’t really dip below a pace of 7 minutes, 10 seconds per mile and we just reeled in the folks towards the last few miles.”
The rules for the Super Squad event, which both teams took part in, required that at least eight runners from each team cross the finish line together to register an official time.
The Patriots (55 minutes, 10 seconds), unlike many teams, stayed together as one cohesive group throughout the race, which enabled them to pass the 864th (57 minutes, 30 seconds) down the home stretch as the 864th was forced to wait for enough racers to catch up with the front runners inside the final mile.
“They started out strong,” Rocke said of the 864th, “we knew they would. They started to lose their formation, we never lost our formation, we stuck as a team because that’s what this is, is a team effort. We just happened to come out on top.”
The race kicked off at 6:45 on a cool, breezy morning in Tacoma. Though a bit chilly for spectators, the weather was optimal for a race said 2-3 Inf.’s Christopher Hallows.
“On a run like this when you know you’re going to be going up the hills, having it cool like this is perfect,” he said. “It was just what we wanted.”
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division has a history of fairing well in running events (Hallows won the Pride Week 10K race), which Hallows credits to the importance of physical fitness for infantry Soldiers.
“We look at it as far as combat and having the sort of physical stamina is the key to combat,” he said, “especially operating in Iraq with body armor at 100 degrees. So running is the foundation for that so that’s something we preach in the unit and it certainly pays dividends when we do these sorts of events.”
As the Patriots filed their way through the finish line, Rocke in the lead, a small, red-headed teenage girl, who was one step behind Rocke, seemed out of place among the Soldiers. But as Rocke said after the race, Ashley Taylor, daughter of 2-3 Inf.’s Command Sgt. Maj. Timothy Dotson, was anything but out of place.
“She’s phenomenal, she makes our Soldiers look silly,” said Rocke of the Yelm High School cross country and track runner who will be a junior next year. “This is a team … (and) we believe our families are part of our team so she was up to the challenge. We held her back, as a matter of fact.”
This year’s turnout was significantly smaller than in past years, but Rocke said that didn’t have anything to do with the event itself.
“It had nothing to do with the function of the activity, it’s very well publicized and the Fort Lewis community always participates strong,” he said. “But … (in) the global war on terrorism, Fort Lewis has (thousands of Soldiers) abroad right now. There are Soldiers in harm’s way right now duking it out with the enemy and there were only a few of us back here that could participate. I’m just glad my battalion was able to represent the Soldiers at Fort Lewis.”
Headquarters and Service Battery, 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery finished third in the Super Squad event with a 58:19 mark.
The 562nd Engineers were the only unit to compete in the Super Company event, and finished with a time of 1:09.32.
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