“Team Sheppard” brings home the gold in Air Force Marathon

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tonnette Thompson
  • 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  "Team Sheppard," four active duty Airmen from various squadrons, competed in the annual Air Force Marathon at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio Sept. 15 - and won first place.

The team consisted of Capt. David Max of the 88th Flying Training Squadron, Capt. Mark Roberts of the 82nd Dental Squadron, 1st Lt. Rory Peterson of the 82nd Medical Support Squadron, Tech. Sgt. Robert Anderson of the 366th Training Squadron..

"We knew we had a pretty good team, but I'm not sure if any one of us seriously thought we had a chance to win," said Captain Max, captain of the Sheppard team, "which made the first place finish that much better."

The marathon hosted 238 teams from all over the world. The categories were divided into men's, women's, military, ROTC, coed and masters.

What's noteworthy is that Sheppard won first place not just in the military category, but first place overall.

The relay consisted of four legs, ranging from 5-8 miles a leg.
Although it was difficult to know where they stood relative to competing teams as they ran, Captain Max had an idea.

"We figured out that we were in second place going into the last leg with a two-minute deficit to the leading team at the time," he said. That team was the Air Education and Training Command team from Laughlin AFB, Texas.

Of the entire 26.2-mile course, Laughlin held the lead until mile 26, when Sergeant Anderson passed up their runner, outpacing Laughlin by 20 seconds.

Participation in the race constituted a day of work for the athletes.

"Our respective squadron commanders granted permissive TDY status to participate," Captain Max said. "Also, Services paid for our entry into the race and for the van and gas for those who drove up."

But will the champions participate again next year? Now that they have a title to defend, Captain Max says they're almost obligated to go.

So hopefully, Sheppard will celebrate the Air Force's 61st birthday with another marathon win.