Troops hit the road for Bastion Half Marathon
by Sgt. Jeremy Ross RC-SW
JOINT OPERATING BASE BASTION, Afghanistan – More than four hundred and twenty troops and military-employed civilians from more than four countries hit the very dusty trail here for the Bastion Half Marathon, Jan. 29.
U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joe Galvin, 38, of Grand Rapids, Mich., placed first in the men’s race with a time of 1 hour, 21 minutes, while Lance Cpl. Laura Magness, 22, of Birmingham, West Midlands, took home the women’s title in 1:46.
“It was a good course, obviously flat,” said Galvin, Regional Command Southwest operational law officer-in-charge. “It was a nice day, a little windy in places.”
The course wound around Bastion and over to adjacent Camp Leatherneck under clear blue skies with temperatures around sixty degrees.
“It seemed a little longer than thirteen miles,” observed Magness, a communications operator with the 202 Signals Squadron.
Magness was right; after the race event organizers announced the course had turned out to be about a quarter mile longer than the official half marathon distance of 13.1 miles.
The event raised more than $6,300 (nearly 4,000 pounds) for charities, including the Royal British Legion and the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
The course wound around Bastion and over to adjacent Camp Leatherneck under clear blue skies with temperatures around sixty degrees.
“It seemed a little longer than thirteen miles,” observed Magness, a communications operator with the 202 Signals Squadron.
Magness was right; after the race event organizers announced the course had turned out to be about a quarter mile longer than the official half marathon distance of 13.1 miles.
The event raised more than $6,300 (nearly 4,000 pounds) for charities, including the Royal British Legion and the Royal National Institute for the Blind.
Stumble It!
