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thedrifter
04-05-04, 12:41 PM
U.S. Marine running Badwater equivalent in Iraq
Simultaneous 135-miler will raise money for Iraqi schools

Camp Taqaddum, Iraq (UW) - Maj. William C. Maples of the U.S. Marine Corps' 1st Force Service Support Group is planning to run a 135-mile time trial in the heart of Iraq's summer to coincide with the 135-Mile Badwater Ultramarathon in the United States next July.

Running laps of a course that will measure just over 10 miles around the perimeter of Camp Taqaddum, Maples hopes to complete the distance within 40 hours and raise money in the process for Iraqi schools.

He is adjusting his schedule to start at the same time on July 12 when Badwater trekkers in California begin their grueling trek from Death Valley to Mount Whitney in California.

"They will be starting at six in the morning, California time, so I'll start that afternoon," Maples says. "I plan to go as far as I can, as fast as I can, at night. Obviously, when it gets hot, I'll have to slow down," Maples said.

Because he is deployed to Iraq, Maples will miss what what would have been his seventh straight year at Badwater, where he has finished three times and dropped out three times. Yet the alternative he is arranging may be even more memorable.

Impoverished

"I would like to see ... if I can get people to sponsor me by the mile and donate the money to a school or hospital," the 40-year-old Dallas, Texas, native says. "I'm going to run anyway, but if my efforts can go to help other people, that's all that much better. There are a lot of impoverished people and schools here."

Maples, who serves as the group's force protection officer, is confident he can persuade organizations in the United States to match whatever he raises in Iraq. The five-foot-seven, 150-pound athlete is training by running at least 10 miles daily in a flak jacket (with armored-plate inserts).

He has been running ultramarathons since 1994, when he talked his way into the Wasatch 100-Miler in Utah.

"The race director is a former Marine, so he gave me a shot. I certainly didn't have the prerequisite experience to participate in such an event," Maples says. "It beat me to a pulp. I came out of it with a stress fracture and hypothermia. I learned from that."

Since then, he's competed in about 15 100-mile-or-longer events and an equal number of 50-mile races.

Photos and report submitted by Sgt. Matt Epright

http://www.ultramarathonworld.com/images/maj_william_maples.jpg

http://www.ultramarathonworld.com/news_2004/n04ap04a.htm


Ellie