Wyoming Cadets Among Nation’s Elite At Grueling Death March Race

The trick to getting through it was focusing on anything other than the here and now as the punishing miles slowly ticked by.

For University of Wyoming junior William “Finn” McDonald, this meant envisioning the pizza waiting for him at the finish line. Louis Torres, meanwhile, concentrated on the beautiful mountain scenery at the White Sands Missile Range while tossing around various goals and options for his future.

It’s the mental hurdles they had to clear while competing in the grueling 35th Bataan Memorial Death March in New Mexico on March 16. They and their teammates from the UW Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program were among the more than 5,000 competitors running the 26.2-mile course many who’ve done it describe as the hardest marathon of their lives.

McDonald, who went on to finish fifth, was competing in the event for the first time. It was also his first marathon, which he’d been training for with his fellow ROTC teammates for three months. The early morning runs and weightlifting sessions at nearly 7,200 feet in Laramie definitely paid off with his elite finish in the top 0.001%.

Not Your Typical Competition

But before that could happen was the mile of sand that McDonald said felt like he was trudging along the beach.

“It was pretty rough to get through that,” McDonald admitted, but like his teammates, he was caught up in the race. “You kind of just clear your mind and put one foot in front of the other.”

Torres, also a junior at the university, had similar thoughts as he trudged with his team laden with 35 pounds of rice and beans in his backpack. He competed in the “rucking” category, which requires carrying a backpack and wearing military boots and clothing. It was his third time competing.

The effort to lug the backpack is what Torres described as “carrying a glass of water.” It can be as empty or as full as possible, but eventually is going to get heavy. This hit Torres around mile 20 when he just wanted the dang thing off his back.

However, the food had a purpose other than just adding weight. Everything in the backpacks would be donated to a local food bank at the end of the race, which was just another element of the event that made it meaningful, Torres said. That, and trudging alongside his fellow ROTC cadets in such a storied event honoring veterans.

“You remember the past and all they sacrificed,” he said.

Death March

The race is a nod to the 75,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers who were captured April 9, 1942, by Japanese forces following a brutal seven-month fight to maintain the Philippine stronghold in the Southwest Pacific.

Once captured, the soldiers from multiple branches of the U.S. military were forced on a 65-mile trek known as the Bataan Death March through jungles to prisoner of war camps, where they endured unspeakable hardships from their captors. Along the march, nearly 1,000 American and 9,000 Filipino soldiers died.

Conditions in the camps were so dire that nearly a third of the prisoners died from health complications upon their release in 1945 when the U.S. and Filipino forces recaptured the territory.

The Bataan Memorial Death March was started by the Army ROTC program at New Mexico State University in 1989. It was moved to the White Sands Missile Range in 1992 when the New Mexico National Guard joined sponsorship of the event.

Participation has grown to more than 9,500 military and civilians who compete in either the 14.2-mile or 26.2-mile courses.

Banner Year

The UW ROTC team of roughly 10 had their best showing in the extreme test of strength, stamina and will, winning the run category with three members in the top five.

The first-place winner was Douglas Tumminello, who finished with a record-breaking time of 3 hours and 6 seconds. This is compared to McDonald’s fifth-place winning time of just under 5 hours.

Both McDonald and Torres describe Tumminello as one of the best athletes in ROTC history.

Coming in second was cadet Daniel Sterling.

The UW ROTC women also had stellar finishes with Bryana Funk taking third in the road race and Ava Gunn fourth in the female category.

Captain Matthew Gursky of the UW ROTC program said this is their best year yet to his knowledge. He wasn’t sure how many years the UW cadets have been competing, but said this year stood out for winners.

“We typically have one to two cadets place well, but this is a first for so many scoring well in the same year,” he said.

Chris McDonald, Finn’s father and president of the Wyoming Peace Officers Association which sponsored the UW ROTC cadets this year, said he’s proud of them all.

“It was awesome to able to support these great young people,” he said. “I was so impressed with all of them.”

Not Just Winning

Along with winning times and crossing the fine line were other lessons to be learned that underscore the tenets of the ROTC program, including never leaving a soldier behind.

Along with offering scholarships to cadets to attend the physically and intellectually challenging four-year program, cadets learn vital life skills like discipline, teamwork and leadership.

This was true for 23-year-old Torres, who kept his group’s spirits high when one of their teammates developed blisters on his feet around the fourth mile. Despite their hard training, it was clear that they weren’t destined for the top five when his feet started hurting.

Instead, they slowed down to match his speed and made ample stops along the way to patch up the blisters. In the end, they crossed the finish line in 16th place out of 36 teams, which didn’t bother Torres.

“In the end, it’s not really what the race is about,” he said. “You want to focus back on why we were there in the first place, which was to honor the World War II veterans who were captured, so I just kind of let it go and enjoyed the marathon and took in the scenery and had a good time.”

Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.