Weeks before they went to the starting line on Jan. 20, there was talk in Army Guard circles about their team out pacing the airmen.

But talk can be cheap: proving it by running the distance with a 30-plus-pound-ruck on their backs was another thing. Rain and high winds on a road pocketed with deep puddles that wrapped around a runway did not provide any advantages to a run that was more than a march.

When the gun went off, Lt. Col. Dan Arena, Headquarters State Area Command, Sgt. Gregory Calloway, 287^th Army Band, Capt. Gerry Pennington, 261^st Signal Brigade, and Capt. Garland Pennington, 193^rd Regional Training Institute, started the race the same way they finished it -- as a team.

"The only reason why we came out for this was one thing--the challenge," Arena said before the race.

To win the competition, the 12-four man teams could run the race the way they wanted. But the score only counted when the last person of a team came over the finish line.

Many participants ran the race as individuals. As an Air Force runner looked back, the rest of his team was far behind.

Not so for the Delaware Army National Guard team. From start to finish, the four soldiers ran as one. As they ran along the route, there was work to be done. When one soldier tired he slid the pack to his hand holding a shoulder strap. A team mate then grabbed the other strap running with the pack between them.

The second annual event, which commemorates World War II's Bataan Death March, also commemorated the 50^th Anniversary of the Korean War. Several Korean War veterans were also on hand for the competition.

Arthur Mayer, a veteran who served with the 25^th Infantry Division in 1952, said it was an honor to witness the event. "If they are good enough to run this march in our honor then it's good enough for me to participate," Mayer said.

He added it was strange to see event volunteers. When he served in the military no one volunteered their free time. "What I also see is how much military equipment has improved compared to when I was in the Army," he added.

He remembered marching in cold Korean weather and that meant becoming very hot and sweating. "The minute you stopped marching you began to freeze," Mayer said.

Air Force 2^nd Lt. Fernando Betancourt, of Dover's Security Forces, who signed the Army National Guard team in for the event, said he didn't expect them to win.

"They asked me if there was a map for the course. I said what do you need a map for when you just have to follow the security force team in front of you. I guess I was wrong," he said.

At the end of the race, the Army Guard team reported feeling great after out racing the other competitors.