Crowd includes Thunderbolts at Air Force Marathon

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LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Nearly 10,000 runners, including a number from Luke Air Force Base, lined up at the start for the 2009 Air Force Marathon Saturday at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. 

The events included participants running in the full marathon as well as a wheeled division, a half-marathon and a 10K run.  

Col. Pete Schaub, 56th Operations Group commander, participated in the full marathon.
"I try to run a marathon every six months because it gives me something to train toward and look forward to," he said. "I heard that the U.S. Air Force marathon was a well organized event and thought it would be great to support." 

This was Colonel Schaub's first U.S. Air Force marathon and his ninth overall marathon. He finished the run in four hours and 13 minutes. 

Capt. Allison Maimona, 56th Fighter Wing assistant staff judge advocate, also ran in the full marathon and finished with a time of three hours, fifty-two minutes, placing 123rd out of 486 military finishers. 

"The time doesn't matter compared to the honor of running side-by-side with our wounded Airmen and veterans," she said. 

Captain Maimona thought participating in the marathon would be a great way to cap her first year in the Air Force, and she said that proved to be the case. 

"From parachutists and flyovers at the start to senior officers handing out medals at the finish, it was an incredible event," she said. "I would absolutely run again. Having also run in some big city marathons, the quality of the Air Force Marathon is top notch. This is a great way to be inclusive and introduce people to the sport and camaraderie of running." 

The 13th annual running event had an almost 35 percent increase over last year. It started with remarks by Lt. Gen. Thomas Owen, Aeronautical Systems Center commander and included Gen. Norton Schwartz who arrived to present the awards. His was the first-ever visit to the Air Force Marathon by an Air Force chief of staff. 

The three-day event started with a Sports and Fitness Expo at the Ervin J. Nutter Center located on the campus of Wright State University just down the road from the base. The expo ran for two days including a 5K race with more than 1,200 runners on a course around the college campus on the second day. That evening the marathon runners indulged in a gourmet pasta dinner at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. 

The marathon course went through historical places on the base and through downtown Fairborn, Ohio, where onlookers cheered the race participants. 

"It was wonderful weather and a great course," said Dave Johnston the winner of the Air Force Marathon with an unofficial time of 2:30:42. "I worked very hard training for this."  

"This was my first time for this race," said Michael Postell from Atlanta, the winner of the marathon wheel division who races in about 25 marathons a year. "I enjoyed the course. It takes a lot of training to prepare for this event." 

Frank Robinson, 76, from Louisville, Ky., ran the 10K.  

"I've been a runner for about 40 years," Mr. Robinson said. "I was here for the second race and now this one. I wasn't going to race, but was talked into it and signed up yesterday. I'm coming back next year for sure." 

A special runner for the second year was Army Capt. Ivan Castro, an Army special forces soldier who was blinded during a mortar attack in Iraq in 2006. Last year the captain ran the full marathon but opted to run the half marathon this year. 

Times are unofficial at the time of this release. The winners are: 

· Men's full marathon: Dave Johnston from Xenia, Ohio, at 2:30:42.
· Women's full marathon: Kate Papenberg from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, at 3:08:55.
· Full marathon, wheeled division: Michael Postell from Snellville, Ga., at 1:23:13.
· Men's half marathon: Brent Martin from Gambier, Ohio, at 1:08:44.
· Women's half marathon: 2nd Lt. Caroline White from Colorado Springs, Colo., at 1:22:17.
· Men's 10K individual: Chacon Kristoffer from Tyndall AFB, Fla., at 33:11.
· Women's 10K individual: Varinka Barbini from Lexington, Ky., at 39:55.
Friday's race results: 
· Men's 5K: Kory Kennedy from Kokomo, Ind., at 16:50.
· Women's 5K: Dianne Striebel from Dayton, Ohio, at 19:31.

Courtesy of Ted Theopolos 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs and Deborah Silliman Wolfe Thunderbolt staff writer