Airmen continue cross-country domination

  • Published
  • By Fort Richardson Public Affairs Office staff report
FORT RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Five teams from Elmendorf and Fort Richardson descended on Otter Lake July 17 for the third of four races in the Combat Cross-Country Series, with the same result as the first two races.

Airmen from the 732nd Air Mobility Squadron took first place in the canoe and run event, just as they did in both the trail and mountain runs earlier this summer.

The event began with two paddlers from each team piloting their canoes around a circuitous course on Otter Lake. As the canoes were beached, the canoeists swapped out for three runners who took off up roughly three-mile Otter Lake Road wearing 35-pound rucksacks.

After reaching a turnaround point, the runners returned to Otter Lake, but only after stopping at the Warrior X-Treme Paintball Facility where they engaged three stationary clay pigeons before continuing the run.

Travis Price and Matthew Agee, the canoe duo from 59th Signal Battalion, gave their team nearly a minute lead over 732nd AMS when they emerged from Otter Lake in first place, but a strong showing by 732nd AMS runners Chad Herner, Mike Hill and Dillon Ezernack erased the lead and left the Airmen victorious.

The 59th Signal team was one of two teams the battalion fielded, finished second, with a team from the Fort Richardson Protestant Women of the Chapel in third. Secondary teams from the PWOC and 59th Signal also competed.

The final event in the Combat Cross-Country Series is the 10-Mile Relay, set for 1 p.m Sept. 11 in front of Attu Hall on Fort Richardson.

For more information, call 384-1304 or 384-1312.