Transit Center holds Air Force Marathon

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Krystie Martinez
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  More than 180 runners from almost every branch of service, along with civilians, and Kyrgyz host nationals ran in an Air Force Marathon hosted by the Transit Center at Manas Sept. 21.

The runners participated in one of three events: 10k-6.2 miles; half marathon-13.1 miles; full marathon-26.2 miles.

The first official Air Force Marathon was held seventeen years ago at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, beginning in celebration of the service's 50th anniversary. Each year the Air Force continues to celebrate its anniversary with a marathon held the third Saturday of September.

This year marks the 7th year the marathon has been sanctioned in deployed locations. For deployed service members this was a chance to experience the camaraderie of running the marathon that's taking place across the globe.

"I think it's an honor to be able to represent the Air Force anywhere, and to be able to do the Air Force marathon in a deployed location is really a great privilege," said Chief Master Sgt. Robert Haye, 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, aerial port superintendent deployed from Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. "I think it's great with today's technology and the way we can reach out to each other, and let them [marathon runners in the states] know we're supporting the marathon even in a deployed location, hopefully it will be a good inspiration for them back home."

For some, deployment offered the opportunity to participate in the marathon that they didn't have back home.

"It has been a goal of mine for a long time and this deployment allowed me to focus on a proper training program," said Maj. Max Coberly, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Theater Security Cooperation, director of operations and Humanitarian Assistance branch chief, and native of Fayetteville, Ark.

Even with a strenuous training program, while running the full marathon, Coberly who is deployed out of Los Angeles AFB, Calif., benefited from the morale boost he got from the water station volunteers.

"I felt really strong the first two-thirds of the race, but going into the 20th mile I began to get leg cramps, all of the volunteers at the stations were a true life-saver for me," he said. "I was just focused on making it to each station towards the end for some much-needed encouragement."

Eight water stations were set up throughout the running course to not only help hydrate the runners, but to motivate them as well.

"I cannot say enough about all of the volunteers; it was really well organized," said Coberly. "From that perspective it was truly a team effort and the wingman spirit came through in all of us."

Tech. Sgt. Joshua Worch, 376 AEW TSC, Humanitarian Assistance program manager, deployed out of Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, ran the full marathon in 3 hours, 33 minutes, 33 seconds, the fastest time for an Airman at TCM.

The Columbus, Ohio, native said he knew he was going to run the full marathon, so he established a program tougher then he had previously tried for other running events.

"It felt great to simply finish, but when a friend told me my time, I was thrilled!" he said. "I accomplished my goal...putting in the time and sticking to the training paid off."

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Peter Barnes, II Marine Expeditionary Force Forward, Air Liaison Element Manas, night staff NCO, had the fastest overall time at 3:16:59.

"I didn't want to be hit by a plane or abandoned on the flight line," he said jokingly, when asked what motivated him to push through the race. "I had to represent the Marines Corps at the Air Force Marathon; the joint forces have been taking a beating lately for the Commander's Cup, so we had to win something to stay in the game."

This was the first time the Spokane, Wash., native participated in a timed marathon.

Barnes is deployed out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.