By Tim Cherry
Staff writer
Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fort Belvoir entered two, eight-person teams into the 28th annual Army Ten-Miler race through Washington D.C., Sunday.

Soldiers and civilians ran within a sea of people that began and ended at the Pentagon.

High ranking Army leadership, friends and Families cheered on the nearly 22,000 Soldiers and civilians who completed the course.

"I live for race days, you just get so amped up" said Ryan Goltz, Belvoir team captain and avid marathon runner. "The entire eyes of the Army are there. You want to bring your ‘A’ game."

Fort Belvoir’s teams are waiting for the official results to be posted Nov. 2 to see where they placed among 700 registered teams. Many Belvoir athletes finished minutes ahead of their qualifying times, according to Goltz, who posted a qualifying time of 80 minutes and an unofficial race time of 73 minutes Sunday.

Tesfaye Senedeku-Alemyeho won the race with an unofficial time of 47:48 and the top female award went to Kerri Gallagher with an unofficial time of 56:09, according to the Army-Ten Miler website.

The Army Ten Miler is sponsored by the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and all proceeds go the Army’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation fund. The Ten-Miler promotes the Army, supports fitness goals and enhances community relations.

"It allows us to compete and it’s well organized by great professionals at MDW," said Lt. Col. Brian Zarchin, Fort Belvoir Garrison Headquarters Battalion commander and a Fort Belvoir 10-Miler runner, who reconnected with an old colleague during the event. "It’s almost like a reunion to remind us we’re all one big team."

Belvoir runners began training for this year’s event in spring. The team consistes of members from various organizations on post, such as the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, the 212th Military Police Detachment and E Company, 169th Engineer Battalion. Belvoir’s team trained two to three times a week at the Mount Vernon Trail to prepare. Training consisted of distance, sprints, hill and other runs.

Zarchin said the team’s camaraderie was symbolic of the good relationship the Fort Belvoir garrison has with its partner organizations.

"It’s a great example of how the garrison and tenants team up for a common goal," Zarchin said.

Paul Stavar, one of several Belvoir athletes competing for the first time, said the training helped him perform well on race day.

"I did better than I thought I would do," said Stavar, who posted an unofficial time of 1 hour 29 minutes.

Goltz expressed gratitude to the Fort Belvoir Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, for paying for registration and uniforms.

"(DFMWR) supporting us with the finances made for a real quality event," said Goltz, who also expressed gratitude to Lt. Col. Dwayne Bowyer, former Garrison Hq. Bn. commander, who helped the team qualify before being moving on to another assignment.

Fort Belvoir will begin training and qualifying for the 2013 Army Ten-Miler next spring.

"People interested in joining should train during the winter to be ready for the spring qualifying," Goltz said. "It’s a great way to meet people within the installation and team build."

The Fort Belvoir Ten-Miler team will provide more information regarding joining the team and training next spring, Goltz said.