Romanians beat 1,300 in Kandahar Run
by Spc. Jim Wagner
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Army News Service, May 13, 2003) -- Romanian Army captains Suciu Ioan and Mihal Muresan won the first Kandahar St. Michael's Airborne Association run Thursday, crossing the finish line side-by-side .
The captains finished nearly a full minute ahead of the next runner, Spc. Greg Harris, a radio telephone operator with C Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.
Ioan and Muresan finished the 6.2-mile race in 36 minutes, 31 seconds; a full 43 seconds ahead of Harris, who finished with a 37:14 time. All three said the conditions in Afghanistan affected their times.
"Because of the conditions, the heat and the elevation, we ran slower," Ioan said. He said a normal time for a 6.2-mile race in Romania is somewhere in the mid-31 minute range for himself and Muresan. Harris said his pace puts him somewhere around 34 minutes back in the United States.
Other factors contributing to a slower run time were the uneven running surface, which shifted from gravel to sand to blacktop throughout the course, making runners more self-conscious of their stride.
The two Romanians were nothing but modest over their convincing win Thursday, thanking their American hosts and the volunteers who made the race happen in the first place.
"We're feeling good, and want to thank our colleagues and fellow runners," Muresan said. "It was very well organized.
"All of us that ran in the race today are winners," he continued, "and I'm happy I was able to participate."
Race director Capt. Jerry Hicks, Headquarters and A Company, 307th Logistics Task Force executive officer, said about 900 U.S., Romanian and Italian soldiers signed up for the event, and another 400 participated unofficially in unit formations.
"It was awesome," he said. "Who would have though we'd have more than 1,300 run a race in Kandahar, Afghanistan?"
A team of 45 volunteers were instrumental in the success of the event, Hicks said. Volunteers manned the water stations found at every two-mile mark on the course, set up and cleaned up after the event, and kept track of the registered runners at the finish line.
Volunteers at the finish line recorded times and enabled the race committee to hand out awards to the top winners in six different categories, broken down by sex and age group.
Hicks made particular mention of the medical staff on hand -- in the air and on the ground -- and the engineers who watered down the course and grated the back stretch of the course for a more stable running surface.
(Spc. Jim Wagner is an Army journalist at Kandahar Air Base, writing for the Freedom Watch newspaper.)
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