thedrifter
08-12-07, 07:35 AM
Posted on Sun, Aug. 12, 2007
Marines show groups how to play dirty for good cause
RICH HAAG
Every team competing in the inaugural Mud Run at Belmont Abbey College recently had to cross the finish line arm in bloody, mud-covered arm -- or have a barking Marine demand that they go back and do it right.
In the Marine Corps way of doing things, the team comes first, whether you're helping a fallen buddy, running a race or organizing a sports event.
Now Charlotte-area Marines are making that team focus available to groups seeking to help their community.
The Mud Run was the creation of the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Charlotte, a group that formed about a year ago to coordinate the efforts of many Marine-affiliated organizations in the region. University City is home to the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center.
The Run, which cost $8,000 to stage and netted about $18,000, will be a major fundraiser for it.
Marine reservists, former Marines, fellow U.S. soldiers and other volunteers across the region contributed nearly 500 hours to pull off the inaugural race, said event director Aaron Harper, a retired Marine sergeant who lives in the Back Creek area of University City.
Belmont Abbey College staff and alumni worked with members of the council to find a 3.8-mile course on college land near the Catawba River and to help find other volunteers who could prepare the site.
When Harper first walked the site in February, he saw some leafless kudzu vines and thought, "No problem at all. I'll just bring a Weed Whacker and chop through a little of it."
He needed a little more help by July, when the vines had grown to 8 feet thick in places. A volunteer from a grading company spent four days on a 25-ton bulldozer to clear 700,000 cubic feet of vines and dig the 250-foot long, 6-foot deep pit.
Two volunteer fire companies pumped in the 11,500 gallons of water to make it mud.
And then there were the many athletes who competed and raised money for a good cause.
On race day, Marines monitored each group of 11 teams as they ran together, helped teammates over walls, performed push-ups together, duck-walked together, and crawled through muddy water on hands and knees together.
Several teams represented the armed forces, including the fastest military team, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Team A, sponsored by University City's Countryside Montessori School.
Eleven teams at a time started the race, and the first one across the finish line was the all-female team, Maybe Cryin' But Tryin'.
"People said, `Wow! Can you believe women?' " Harper said.
"I said, `You're kidding. They can be as tough as they want to be,' " said Harper, whose wife, Michelle, is a major in the Army National Guard and a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot.
Those four-member teams running arm-in-arm across the finish line simulated the Marine Corps' smallest unit, the four-member fire team -- so that competitors could get a taste of the Marine way of doing things.
"There has got to be some very serious cohesion within that unit because you have to motivate each other and support each other, even if you don't like each other," Harper said. "So they have a bond. Their bond is forged through leadership and teamwork.
"For me, that bond starts in boot camp and continues throughout the rest of your life."
The $30,000 raised by this event is a reflection of that bond. The proceeds will benefit severely injured Marines being cared for at the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp LeJeune. Three of those vets were able to come and watch the competition, Harper said.
Emily Knudson, Harper's spin instructor at the Peak Fitness center near UNC Charlotte, helped raise some of that money.
A personal-fitness instructor, mother of four sons ages 3-11 and a self-described "Air Force brat," Knudson enlisted three of her clients, Gail Pyle (Air Force brat No. 2), Robbi Meador and Julie Helper, to compete.
Their team, Down and Dirty, finished the middle of the pack, Knudson said.
"We all had scrapes on our elbows because of the little rocks in the mud when we were crawling on our arms and knees, but nothing bad," she said. "For me it was a whole other role, because I always do races just by myself, but now I had to worry about my team," she said. "I am with a team that I am so proud of."
Down and Dirty did come in No. 2 in fundraising by a corporate team. The team, sponsored by Fitness Together in Matthews, raised about $3,000.
Get Help With Your Event
The Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Charlotte can provide its logistical expertise to groups wanting to put on major events. For details, visit www.carolinamarines.org
Learn more about the Mud Run and the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp LeJeune at www.freewebs.com/ncmudrun/ourcause.htm. Rich Haag
Ellie
Marines show groups how to play dirty for good cause
RICH HAAG
Every team competing in the inaugural Mud Run at Belmont Abbey College recently had to cross the finish line arm in bloody, mud-covered arm -- or have a barking Marine demand that they go back and do it right.
In the Marine Corps way of doing things, the team comes first, whether you're helping a fallen buddy, running a race or organizing a sports event.
Now Charlotte-area Marines are making that team focus available to groups seeking to help their community.
The Mud Run was the creation of the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Charlotte, a group that formed about a year ago to coordinate the efforts of many Marine-affiliated organizations in the region. University City is home to the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center.
The Run, which cost $8,000 to stage and netted about $18,000, will be a major fundraiser for it.
Marine reservists, former Marines, fellow U.S. soldiers and other volunteers across the region contributed nearly 500 hours to pull off the inaugural race, said event director Aaron Harper, a retired Marine sergeant who lives in the Back Creek area of University City.
Belmont Abbey College staff and alumni worked with members of the council to find a 3.8-mile course on college land near the Catawba River and to help find other volunteers who could prepare the site.
When Harper first walked the site in February, he saw some leafless kudzu vines and thought, "No problem at all. I'll just bring a Weed Whacker and chop through a little of it."
He needed a little more help by July, when the vines had grown to 8 feet thick in places. A volunteer from a grading company spent four days on a 25-ton bulldozer to clear 700,000 cubic feet of vines and dig the 250-foot long, 6-foot deep pit.
Two volunteer fire companies pumped in the 11,500 gallons of water to make it mud.
And then there were the many athletes who competed and raised money for a good cause.
On race day, Marines monitored each group of 11 teams as they ran together, helped teammates over walls, performed push-ups together, duck-walked together, and crawled through muddy water on hands and knees together.
Several teams represented the armed forces, including the fastest military team, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Team A, sponsored by University City's Countryside Montessori School.
Eleven teams at a time started the race, and the first one across the finish line was the all-female team, Maybe Cryin' But Tryin'.
"People said, `Wow! Can you believe women?' " Harper said.
"I said, `You're kidding. They can be as tough as they want to be,' " said Harper, whose wife, Michelle, is a major in the Army National Guard and a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot.
Those four-member teams running arm-in-arm across the finish line simulated the Marine Corps' smallest unit, the four-member fire team -- so that competitors could get a taste of the Marine way of doing things.
"There has got to be some very serious cohesion within that unit because you have to motivate each other and support each other, even if you don't like each other," Harper said. "So they have a bond. Their bond is forged through leadership and teamwork.
"For me, that bond starts in boot camp and continues throughout the rest of your life."
The $30,000 raised by this event is a reflection of that bond. The proceeds will benefit severely injured Marines being cared for at the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp LeJeune. Three of those vets were able to come and watch the competition, Harper said.
Emily Knudson, Harper's spin instructor at the Peak Fitness center near UNC Charlotte, helped raise some of that money.
A personal-fitness instructor, mother of four sons ages 3-11 and a self-described "Air Force brat," Knudson enlisted three of her clients, Gail Pyle (Air Force brat No. 2), Robbi Meador and Julie Helper, to compete.
Their team, Down and Dirty, finished the middle of the pack, Knudson said.
"We all had scrapes on our elbows because of the little rocks in the mud when we were crawling on our arms and knees, but nothing bad," she said. "For me it was a whole other role, because I always do races just by myself, but now I had to worry about my team," she said. "I am with a team that I am so proud of."
Down and Dirty did come in No. 2 in fundraising by a corporate team. The team, sponsored by Fitness Together in Matthews, raised about $3,000.
Get Help With Your Event
The Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Charlotte can provide its logistical expertise to groups wanting to put on major events. For details, visit www.carolinamarines.org
Learn more about the Mud Run and the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp LeJeune at www.freewebs.com/ncmudrun/ourcause.htm. Rich Haag
Ellie