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The Nation’s Triathlon ™ to Honor First Responders and Military Triathletes on 10th Anniversary of 9-11 Terrorist Attacks
By Jennifer Devlin
Washington, DC
August 26, 2011
For the Washington Running Report
The Nation’s Triathlon™ announces that the 2011 race, which takes place on Sunday, September 11 -- the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks --, will pay special tribute to military personnel and first responders participating in the race. More than 725 participants have signed up to compete in the First Responders Challenge and the Gryphon Technologies Military Challenge, open to emergency medical personnel, police officers, firefighters, active duty and veteran service members, and others who have participated in the war against terror. Many of the participants are competing in honor of a fallen comrade or coworker (see stories below).
In addition to the Challenge races, there will also be a moment of silence at the start of the race at 6:58 a.m. and a 9-11 Tribute Wall at the Finish Line Festival in West Potomac Park where competitors, spectators, and others can post messages of tribute and remembrance for the 403 first responders who lost their lives on 9-11 and the more than 6,000 service members who have lost their lives fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Nation’s Triathlon™ is the nation’s largest international distance triathlon event and features a 1.5K swim in the Potomac River, a 40K bike course through downtown D.C., and a 10K run along Washington, DC’s monumental corridor.
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Warrior Tri Team
In 2010, several current and former service members banded together to form the Warrior Tri Team to honor four of our nation's finest who fell in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in 2007: Sergeant Major Brad Conner, Sergeant First Class Nate Winder, Sergeant First Class Mike Tully, and Sergeant First Class Adrian Elizalde. Each team member successfully completed a Half-Ironman on September 11, 2010. Collectively, the Warrior Tri Team raised more than $31,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) in memory of those fallen heroes and in support of the six children those brave men left behind. Humbled and honored by their supporters' generosity, the team is at it again with a goal to raise more than $20,000 in 2011 for the SOWF, using the Nation's Triathlon as its venue. For more information, please visit the Warrior Tri Team page on Facebook or at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/warriortriteam/2011. The SOWF is devoted to providing a college education to every child who has lost a parent while serving in Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Special Operations during an operational or training mission. The forces covered by the Foundation include Army Rangers, Army Special Forces (Green Berets), Navy SEALs, Navy Special Boat Units, Air Force Pararescue Jumpers, Marine Force Reconnaissance, Special Operations aviation units, and others throughout multi-service Special Operations organizations. Of recent note, the SOWF has pledged to provide full college scholarship for the children of all those service members who perished in the CH-47 Chinook crash on August 6, 2011, in Afghanistan.
Kevin J. Lovell, MAJ, EN
Engineer and Installation Analyst
Department of the Army, Office of Business Transformation
My interest in triathlon was generated during service to our country. During my 2008-09 deployment to Iraq, I trained for the 2009 Chicago Marathon, and decided that I would start training for triathlons. Physical training is ingrained in the US Army’s culture. It is the first organized activity that units do each day. September 11 started just as any other normal duty day would start; it would not end that way. After finishing a session of physical training (PT) with my Soldiers in B Company, 92d Engineer Battalion, I heard the announcement on the radio about what was initially described as a missile attack on one of the Towers of the World Trade Center. I sped across post to my unit’s headquarters. My Battalion Commander and I watched the second plane fly into the WTC. Six weeks later, the first Soldiers from the 92nd Engineer Battalion, from my company, landed in Uzbekistan to support the Global War on Terror. Not long after, we deployed again to Bagram, Afghanistan as part of the initial push of conventional Army units. We worked hard to accomplish our mission multi-faceted mission of construction, runway repair, and unexploded ordnance removal. Engineers are described as pentathletes because of our multiple roles and responsibilities in the Army and to the Nation. Along the way, we did PT to stay in shape and relieve stress. Running there made me appreciate local 5Ks and bicycle races more than I had previously. PT became a release during that deployment, and during my next deployment to Afghanistan in 2005 and to Iraq in ‘08-‘09. Staying in cycling specific shape became hard, but racing was replaced on the training calendar with centuries with great friends while I was at home. The desire to start triathlons after completing the Chicago Marathon in my hometown really grew after joining a training group in Colorado Springs. My swimming improved under an experienced, first rate coach. The camaraderie with training groups was incredibly enjoyable. Along the way I learned from each training and racing event and learned about myself. After I received orders to move to the Washington, DC area, I was very excited for the opportunity to participate in the Nation’s Triathlon. Each time I had seen advertisements for the event I thought about how cool it would be to do this event, held this year on the 10th Anniversary of September 11. I am energized and can think of no finer way to spend that day than with other patriots in this event through our Nation’s capital.
Ray Porter
I am an OEF x 1 and OIF x 3 veteran dating back from 2002 to 2010. I have lost a number of friends over the years in both theaters, but a very good friend of my Master Sergeant Art Lilly was killed on Jun 15, 2007. I plan to race in his honor. Additionally I am currently raising money for CW3 Scott Schroeder who lost his legs in Afghanistan this past DEC10. Friends and family have contributed about $8,000 which has gone to the Green Beret Foundation specifically tagged for Scott's needs.
Noah Cass & Chris Gingrich
I am Noah Cass, a Marine Corps Infantry Veteran and will be competing in the triathlon along with a friend of mine, Chris Gingrich (Active Navy Diving Medical Tech). The two of us met while serving together in 2003 until Chris left for Dive school in 2004. Together, while assigned to Weapons Co., 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines, we were deployed to Iraq in 2003 as a part of Task Force Tarawa for the initial push of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Swapping CD's and surfing magazines during this deployment laid the groundwork for our friendship. Chris left 3/2 and went on to Dive school, then continued on the path to Navy Special Warfare, where he is today. He has deployed numerous times in support of the ongoing efforts. Staying with 3/2 Weapons Co., I completed another deployment to Iraq in 2005 before leaving the military and moving on to college. We remained in static contact throughout the years and in 2009 we got a hold of each other again, with more in common than before. We had both discovered triathlon and a love of endurance sports. This led to numerous attempts to arrange a race that we could both attend (Chris lives in Virginia, I live in Connecticut). Due to deployments, training, school, and other happenings nothing has worked out … until Nations Tri this year. When news of the tragic helicopter crash in Afghanistan flashed on the TV, I immediately thought of Chris and the other men that he works with daily. We talked soon after and the crash had taken the lives of great men, some of them whom Chris had known and worked with. We talked briefly and later in the day the idea of raising funds in memory of the fallen was agreed upon. We chose the Navy SEAL Foundation as the funds would directly benefit the Navy Special Warfare Community, the bond that Chris and the men lost share. The fundraising began today, but through e-mails and conversations with family/friends prior to the start, we have received a lot of interest and support. On September 11, a day that already holds so much space in our hearts, two brothers who have fought and trained together will unite once again. It will be a monumental day, with our reunion, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, as well as the culmination of our efforts in training and fundraising. It is our hope that our efforts off the course will provide relief and assistance to those families now, and in the future. For more information on the Navy SEAL Foundation please visit: http://nswfoundation.org/
Varner, Philip K CPT MIL USA IMCOM
I was in College ROTC, at Tennessee Technological University, preparing for my commission into the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant when I watched the Towers fall on television in the commons. The next year I received my commission as an infantry officer. Since then I have deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2004, 2005-2006). I have spent a total of 25 months overseas to participate in our country’s War on Terrorism. I never have regretted my decision to serve and will continue to do so to help ensure our country’s freedom and safety. I will never forget the ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice, some of which were close friends of mine, and the many innocent who were lost on September 11, 2001, a decade ago.
Rob Jones (Story from the Washington Post – 8/21/11)
Rob Jones and his friend Ivan Kander grew up in western Loudoun County making movies together. Kander shot comedies, action films, and school projects — all kinds of stories — with a clunky old camcorder, always starring Jones. “I always wanted to be the person telling the story,” Kander said. “Rob always wanted to be the person in the story.” Jones joined the Marine Corps and became a combat engineer. Last summer, while searching for IEDs in one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, he triggered an explosion that blew off most of his two legs.
Within days, back at the National Naval Medical Center, when Jones was still freaking out on morphine, having more surgeries than he could count, wracked by phantom pain in the limbs that were no longer there and unable to sleep because of nightmares and flashbacks, he and Kander decided to make another movie, starring Rob Jones, of course. “Survive. Recover. Live. — The Rob Jones Story” was screened July 22 at Loudoun Valley High School, from which they both graduated in 2003. Hundreds of people came, raising more than $4,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project,” Kander said. The day of the screening marked the first anniversary of the day of the blast. When Jones walked down the aisle to the front of the auditorium before the movie started, step by careful step in his Virginia Tech shirt (he is an alumni); the audience members stood and applauded. Some had tears in their eyes. But they were laughing during the documentary.
“It’s not a sad story,” Kander said. “It’s heart-wrenching, but it’s fun, it’s funny, it’s upbeat,” said Leslie Bower, who heard about Jones’s injuries at church and ended up going door-to-door urging people to watch it. After the screening, Jones took questions from the audience. “One of the things that came up was, he’s been turned down for disability twice,” Bower said. He said, “‘It’s okay, because there are people out there that need it more than I do.’ That to me says an awful lot about Rob. He’s more than okay. He’s great.” Jones remembers hearing a boom that day, last July. When he came to, he didn’t feel pain — not yet, that came soon enough — but intense pressure, as though his legs had fallen asleep, exponentially magnified. One of his friends said on camera that right after Jones yelled, he asked what was missing. If it was more than his legs, he said, “shoot me now.” It wasn’t. “And then bam, he’s good.” Once back in the United States, Kander filmed Jones looking pale and gaunt and covered in tubes in a hospital bed — as different as could be from the tan, muscular Marine in cameo in earlier photos. He was sending a video message to a friend from Midlothian, VA, who had been hit, too. Rob’s voice was weak but steady as ever: First, we need to come up with a good workout plan. After all the surgeries and skin grafts, he went to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to learn how to walk without legs. The film shows him getting his first stubbies, little flat fake feet, then feet that flex at the ankle, then longer legs. He told his therapists he wanted to be able to walk by November, at the Marine Corps ball. And he did, exhausted but having a great time, in his dress uniform, leaning on two canes. Over the months, he learned to walk on city streets, to ride a bike attached by cable to a track, to swim and to run. Jones has an internship with the FBI and might like to be a special agent. “Still taking it to the bad guys, even though I don’t have legs anymore,” he says on camera. The documentary ends with him cracking a joke, the short stumps of his legs tracked with rough stitches like a baseball. Real life keeps rolling, off camera.
He’s planning to compete in a race next month: the Nation’s Triathlon, which loops past the monuments in Washington with a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike ride and 10K run. Last week, he was the last person training at Walter Reed, which is closing, his coach Patrick Johnson said. He’s always already working out when Johnson arrives for a training session. “His discipline is better than any athlete I’ve worked with in 20 years,” and he’s someone other wounded service members look up to, Johnson said. He doesn’t complain. He doesn’t brag. And he’s been able to advance swiftly because he’s so motivated. When Jones was asked about rowing, “Does it hurt?” he laughed and said, “Only if I’m doing it right.” How good is he? “That’s what we’re going to find out this weekend,” Johnson said; Jones and a teammate competed with the pair who will be representing the United States at the World Games next month. Jones also was competing solo in another race. Johnson thinks Jones is good enough to go after a spot on the U.S. team. “Just like with any elite athlete, it’s the combination of having the natural ability, having the strength, having the discipline. He has the whole package, and anyone who sees him goes, ‘Wow — he looks amazing.’ ” After drills, then ripping across the river in a sprint past canoers and kayakers who almost seemed to be sitting still, Jones was spent. He pulled himself out of the scull with his arms with a little hop, slipped his prosthetic legs back on and popped upright — by pushing himself up with his arms into an upside-down V, then straightening at the waist. He bent at the waist to pick up the oars, then carried them up the metal ramp toward the boathouse. He wasn’t nervous about the race. “It should be fun,” he said, and grinned. It was. He came in a close second in both of his races. Just wait for the sequel.
Chris Owen, RN, MSN (Trauma Resuscitation)
Heather Joyce-Byers, RN (Flight Nurse)
Chet Nash, RN (Flight Nurse)
It was anything but "Just Another Saturday Night"...... as a matter of fact it was a beautiful Tuesday morning in D.C. But that is what JT said over the bull horn when the hum was engulfing the MedSTAR Trauma Unit. We are the Regional Burn Center for the Nation’s Capital and the only Level I Trauma Center in the District of Columbia. We transported and received medevaced critically ill victims from the Pentagon attacks. We are trained for this work and are used to organized chaos, this little reminder was necessary to settle our emotions and help treat that day as if it was "Just Another Saturday Night" and also to help us get through the horrific events that were unfolding. "Just Another Saturday Night" is a relay team of Trauma Resuscitation and Flight registered nurses that were in the MedSTAR trauma unit that day caring for the victims from the Pentagon attacks. An honor and a privilege and a day none of us will ever forget!
The Rev. Elizabeth A. B. Tesi
I am an Episcopal priest and an emergency chaplain. I serve St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Eugene Oregon and the Lane County Sheriff’s Department as a board-certified Chaplain. Having raced last year with Team in Training, I decided to race this year for the First Responders' Challenge to raise funds and awareness for Concerns of Police Survivors and Episcopal Relief and Development. My primary aim as an emergency chaplain is to support my agency in disaster and emergency response and to be part of the healing and rebuilding of broken lives in a broken world. In 2001, I had just moved to Alexandria, Virginia to start grad school. I have not forgotten hearing the sonic booms as jets arrived to protect the capital. In the days after, what I remember most was the atmosphere of support as people learned the fate of friends and loved ones or formed a sandwich line to make sandwiches for those working at the Pentagon, and the ultimate hope that we could focus on rebuilding instead of revenge. I remain extremely proud of the professionalism of the many first responders and military responders who came to D.C. during those days to help the injured, put out the fires, and secure the surrounding towns. I was privileged in years following to serve the Alexandria and then Arlington Police Departments as one of their chaplains. They remain one of my greater inspirations in my work as a first responder and emergency chaplain.