Thursday, June 07, 2007

Cross country race brings out 139 runners from seven units

Competitors in the 2007 Intramural Cross Country Championships take off at the beginning of the 3.6-mile course at the North 36 Golf Course on Wednesday. HRC took first place in the team event for the second year in a row. (Photo by Natasha McMonagle)

Human Resources Comm-and crushed the competition on Wednesday during the annual Intramural Cross Country Championships where they took first place in every category except for one.

“It was a beautiful day to run,” said Capt. Michelle Ripka, who was the first female to cross the finish line. “It feels good to represent the Army Nurse Corps and HRC.”

This is the second year that Ripka has taken first place overall in the female category, finishing in a little over 23 minutes. 

HRC also took first place prizes with the first male to cross the finish line, the first veteran to cross and the overall team award.

“The work that the team did as a whole really paid off and I think it shows,” said Chief Warrant Officer Robert Denmark and team captain for HRC.

Twenty-seven runners from HRC participated in the race that took place on the North 36 Golf Course on Wednesday morning and all of the runners voiced one common sentiment:
“[That] was the toughest course I’ve ever run,” said Maj. Chris Bachl who took fist place in the 3.6 mile race. “I was impressed with the fact that there was so many people out [here]-Soldiers and civilians.”

One hundred and thirty nine overall runners participated in the race from seven different units including The School of Geospatial-Intelligence team that took second place.

“It was pretty intense,” said Capt. Katie Roberson, the TSG team captain. “The whole thing was hills.”
Bill Taylor, the assistant deputy chief of staff for operations at HRC finished second overall and was the first veteran to cross the finish line at the age of 58. The veteran awards are given to participants ages 35 and older.

“[On this course] it’s hard to get into a rhythm,” said Taylor. “It’s hard to pace because you’re either going down fast or up [slower].”

Taylor runs every morning as part of his training regimen. He, like many of the runners, used the cross country course race to train for the Army 10-Mailer that is taking place in October.

Missy Watts from D/CEETA took first place for the first veteran female to cross the finish line.