Despite wind storm, Air Force Marathon to run on schedule

  • Published
  • By Derek Kaufman
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Base officials here said U.S. Air Force Marathon events will run as planned this Friday and Saturday, despite debris along the race route from a major wind storm that struck the region on Sunday, Sept. 14.

Early Monday, portions of the course were marked by down trees, branches and leaves. Several beverage station tents that had been pre-positioned along the route were blown down or damaged. 

By early this afternoon, a cadre of base volunteers, services and civil engineering personnel were already working together to ensure the course would be pristine well before race time.

"There is a lot of debris both on and off-base along the marathon route which we are rapidly cleaning up and a few tents will need to be replaced, but all marathon events will take place on schedule," Col. Bradley Spacy, 88th Air Base Wing commander, said. "We've got a great team here who are accustomed to pulling together in emergencies and making great things happen."

The 12th Annual U.S. Air Force Marathon events include a marathon, wheelchair marathon, half marathon, individual 10K, and team 10K, all on Saturday, Sept. 20. Wright State University will host an affiliated Sports & Fitness Exposition Sept. 18 - 19 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center and a 5K race on the campus Sept. 19.

The 26.2 mile road race begins and finishes on the grounds of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and makes its course through Areas A, B and C at Wright-Patterson in addition to trekking briefly through streets in the neighboring cities of Fairborn and Riverside. Organizers today said more than 6,700 runners have already signed up for this year's marathon events, a total which is on track to break last year's record turnout.

The remnants of what was Hurricane Ike blew down trees and power lines in southwest Ohio on Sunday in a storm marked by high winds but very little precipitation. Local media reported as many as 300,000 people in the region lost electrical power. Power on base initially went out early Sunday afternoon and was finally restored for most base customers about 2:30 a.m. Monday, civil engineers said. A number of critical facilities including Wright-Patterson Medical Center operated on backup generators until power was restored.

Other storm impacts

A number of military family housing units on base suffered damage from falling trees and high winds. Sections of base fence line were blown or knocked down by falling trees and several larger buildings incurred damage to roofs or siding from Sunday's wind storm which included a peak measured gust of 69 miles per hour, a base meteorologist said.

A large number of downed trees, branches and debris forced the temporary closure of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's golf courses. At least nine holes of the Twin Base golf course are expected to open this evening. Clean up of the base's Prairie Trace golf course will likely take another two to three days before it re-opens, 88th Services Division officials said.

Damage assessment is ongoing.