Courtesy Photo | Staff Sgt. David Seymour, Noncommissioned Officer Academy and team captain, and 2nd...... read more read more
Sara E. Martin, Army Flier Staff Writer
FORT RUCKERS, Ala. - The All-Army 10-Miler Race is known for being the largest ten-mile race in the Western Hemisphere with more than 30,000 competitors.
The Fort Rucker team has been a top contender for many years in the race, and this year’s team is determined to run like the wind and bring home glory.
“There are a lot of benefits to being on the 10-Miler team. It shows great commitment, character and motivation,” said Staff Sgt. David Seymour, Noncommissioned Officer Academy and captain of Fort Rucker’s team. “It is a great challenge, and is a great chance to represent the installation at something that is bigger than themselves.”
This year the cap on participants has been raised to 35,000, and competition is fierce between participants.
“It is an honor to be selected to run on this team,” said Seymour. “These soldiers are meant to be the best runners on the installation. They will be running 40 miles a week in training.”
The selection pool is locked for the installations All Army 10-Miler Team, but Soldiers are more than welcome to join the team for workouts.
“It is a great way to stay in shape,” said the team captain. “Sometimes physical training does not put as much demand on a soldier, especially if they are in better shape. These practices will push somebody further than they would if they only did company PT.”
The team does three different types of workouts – speed work, fartlek and long runs – but cross training is done on each runners own time.
“There is no rank at these practices. We are on a first name basis here,” said Seymour. “We are all runners and we treat each other equally and respectfully.”
“We push hard during practice so resting is important,” he added. “So for those who come to our workouts, resting will improve and strengthen your muscles as well.”
This year, 18 soldiers, male and female on active-duty status, are in the selection pool, but only eight will take it onto the team.
“For the lucky eight that do get picked, the challenge just gets more intense,” said Seymour adding that to become the fastest endurance runners on this installation they have to push themselves.
Each division in the race has around 30 teams and there are 25 different divisions. There are also separate category runs for wounded warriors, individuals and youth.
“Considering the size of our installation, we do fairly well,” he said. “The team was very strong last year, we finished second in the division. We won first place in our division in 2010.”
The team is running in the “Active Duty Mixed” division, because it has runners from both sexes.
“The runners will get their official finish time on a certified ten-mile course, a finisher’s coin and a chance to out run thousands of other people,” said Seymour.
The last ten-miler qualifier will be August 3 when he will choose the top runners. But Seymour said that run time is not the only factor in getting one of the coveted spots.
“Practice participation, attitude and results from the three runs will be the factors used for the final cut,” he said.
The annual race weekend events also include a youth run, a youth activity fair, and a pre-race pasta dinner.
| Date Taken: | 07.10.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 07.10.2013 11:44 |
| Story ID: | 109977 |
| Location: | FORT RUCKER, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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