Thousands gather to run 10 miles for Army birthday

By Sharilyn Wells
Paraglide

	Photos by Sharilyn Wells/Paraglide Thousands of participants run the Fort Bragg 14th Annual Army Birthday 10-miler, Friday on Longstreet Road. The race included individual age group and team competitions in men’s, women’s and mixed divisions.

Even at six o’clock in the morning, the humidity and the creeping heat didn’t stop thousands of runners from lacing up their running shoes and competing in the Fort Bragg 14th Annual Army Birthday 10-Miler, Friday.

For U.S. Military Academy at West Point candidate, Alexis Torre Santiago, a 10-mile race was no sweat. Santiago won for the second time in a row, taking first place overall with a time of 55 minutes and 21 seconds.

An avid runner and track star for the academy, Santiago kept about an average pace of five and a half minutes per mile.

“It feels great to win for the second time,” said Santiago, seemingly out of breath after crossing the finish line.
A couple of minutes behind Santiago was second place overall winner, Martin Anders, with a time of 58 minutes and three seconds. Jon Stein took third place, with a time of 58 minutes and 28 seconds.

A smiling Emily Potter was the first female to cross the finish line with a time of one hour and four minutes. After completing her race, Potter turned around and ran the last few meters again with some of her fellow runners.

For runner Maureen Short, this was the first time she ran the 10-miler on Fort Bragg.

Short picked up running while her husband was deployed, pushing her children in a double stroller and never stopped since. She has competed in the Washington D.C. Army 10-miler as well.

The winning team with a combined average time of one hour and six minutes was the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations team. The team consisted of Matt Davis, Jeong Kim, Christopher Shepherd, Rayan Min, Jason Tebedo, Chris Johnson, John Robinson and Joshua Wilhelm.

Along with the 10-mile race, the Fort Bragg Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sponsored event also included a four-mile fun walk this year.

“This was great; very well organized,” Short said of the event.

For more information and the results of the race, visit Fort Bragg’s MWR website at www.fortbraggmwr.com.

Share