MARCHING ON: TEAM EXCELS IN GRUELING MARATHON

As if running a 26.2-mile marathon course is not grueling enough, consider doing it across a mix of mountain and desert terrain with a 40-pound pack on your back.

That is exactly what a five-man team from the Missouri National Guard, headquartered in Cape Girardeau, did at the 2001 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands, New Mexico on April 1.

The 1140th Engineer Combat Battalion represented by Maj. Mitch Passini (team captain), Capt. Craig Gatzemeyer, Staff sgt. Dan Eagan, Spc. Jared Dement and Spc. Joe Lopez finished second -- with 10 teams entered -- in the Team National Guard Heavy Division with a time of 6:33:51.

Team members negotiate the course at their own pace, but must finish as a group to establish the final time team time.

Passini, Gatzemeyer and Eagan are full-time guard members, while Lopez and Dement, in addition to their guard duties, are students at Southeast Missouri State University. All are residents of Cape Girardeau.

Passini, a past participant in the event, assembled the team on a purely voluntary basis and the men began training in September.

The training regimen included running with rucksacks (military back packs) as a team twice a week and another three days of individual running or bicycling from six to 15 miles per session.

"The race itself is very physical and requires mental stamina, as well," said Lopez. "But, in no way, does it compare to what the men of Bataan went through."

The Bataan Memorial Death March is held each year to commemorate the sacrifice and suffering of thousands of United States and Filipino service members who fought in the Philippine Islands during World War II.

When Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, prisoners taken during the battle were forced to march 65 miles, without food or water. Many were beaten, run over by passing trucks and sometimes buried alive.

This year, 3,200 men and women from 45 states, five countries and every branch of the armed forces, participated in various classes.

Some were there to honor relatives or family friends who endured the misery of Bataan; some were there out of respect for those who experienced the ordeal; some, simply, for the challenge.

"It's a very exhilarating competition and I look forward to participating again," said Lopez.