Running wild: Navy claims first Wilderness Challenge victory - Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Navy Times

Running wild: Navy claims first Wilderness Challenge victory

Four sailors made history in October, becoming the first Navy team to win the grueling Wilderness Challenge.

Team Amphibia from the Office of the Chief of Navy Reserve in Arlington, Va., beat out 40 other teams from all five military branches in two days of running, biking, hiking and rafting in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia.

Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Region Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department, the 10th annual Wilderness Challenge consisted of a series of five outdoor adventure races. Each four-person team had to complete an eight-kilometer mountain run, a 14-mile mountain bike race, a 14-mile forced hike through the mountains, a 13-mile whitewater raft race on the Gauley River and a seven-mile kayak race on the New River. The event wrapped up Oct. 9.

Team Amphibia’s winning time for all the events was 7 hours, 18 minutes, 38 seconds.

“It’s not an easy competition, and only the strong survive, so the winning team will be the best of the best in outdoor recreation and physical endurance,” event coordinator Michael Bond said in a recent news release.

Team Trample the Dead, Hurdle the Weak from U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Fla., took second place with a time of 7 hours, 42 minutes, 29 seconds. The Wild Punishers from Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., took third in 8 hours, 4 minutes, 22 seconds.

Bond said this is only the second year that every team finished all five events.

This year also saw the fewest teams compete in the challenge, Bond said.

“We lost about 15 teams in the past three weeks saying, ‘I can’t make it. I’m being deployed,’” he said.

— Matthew Cox