NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/10/2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES -Several cadets from Northwestern State University's ROTC program completed the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 26.2 mile race along New Mexico desert trails and sand washes at an elevation of between 4,100 and 5,300 feet. The cadets trained for three months for the marathon, which was both a mental and physical challenge, and came away with valuable lessons in teamwork, determination and endurance.

"This race is rated as one of the toughest marathons in the U.S.," said Lt. Col. Teresa Galgano, NSU ROTC commander. "Teams consist of five people and all five have to start and end the race at the same time or the team is disqualified. The terrain is difficult and the course starts at 4,000 feet above sea level, something we in Louisiana are not used to."

The marathon is held at White Sands Missile Range in south central New Mexico. Since its inception in 1989, the memorial march has grown from about 100 to some 4,000 marchers from across the United States and several foreign countries. While still primarily a military event, many civilians choose to take the challenge. The NSU cadets attended with marathon through the support of the Natchitoches VFW, the American Legion and the Alumni Association.

The race commemorates the World War II soldiers defending Luzon, Corregidor and the harbor defense of the Philippines who were surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. The soldiers were marched through the scorching Philippine jungle to face the hardships as prisoners of war. Thousands died.

Some of the NSU cadets marched in the heavy category carrying a 35-pound pack. Others marched in the light category, in uniform and boots. Along with 11 cadets,
CPT Gregory Hickerson, a fulltime student, trained the teams and marched in the heavy category. Ft. Polk sent their NCO and soldier of the year to participate with and assist the NSU cadets, SFC Michael Sanchez and SPC Juan Herrera.

"I completed the March also with four other women in the heavy category and we came in first," Galgano said. "Only one other military woman's team competed in the heavy category, but they could not finish it."

To prepare, the cadets trained every Wednesday January-March running ramps in Turpin Stadium. Every other Saturday, the cadets ran long distances in Kisatchie National Forest for 5-7 hours beginning at 5 a.m. Normally cadets routinely run two miles two or three times a week. Cadet Nathan Tillotson of Fort Polk said that after completing the marathon, that seems like a light workout.

The first eight miles of the March are on dirt roads, before the trail heads 1,500 feet up the side of a mountain for five miles, followed by a 6-mile decline and ending with an uphill sandpit the last 1.8 miles.

"There was a hill we named 'the never-ending road," Tillotson said.

"You didn't know how high you were going until you looked back down," said Cadet Danielle Champagne of Houma.

None of the NSU cadets who participated had ever run a marathon before. Champagne, who is part of the NSU rowing crew, said the grueling March was totally different from a rowing marathon and much more difficult.

"It was a big mental thing as well as physical," she said. "The last two miles were by far the hardest."

"Carrying the pack, your shoulders hurt and you get blisters on your feet and you tell yourself you have to finish," Tillotson added.

The light team completed the marathon in seven hours 40 minutes. The heavy team finished in nine hours 56 minutes.

"When we came across the finish line, they have a tent and everybody was cheering us on," Tillotson said.

World War II veterans of the 1942 Bataan Death March are honored during the marathon.

"Survivors of the march come and shake the hands of all participants and are there at the midway point to cheer us on," Galgano said.

"They did 90 miles without water," Champagne said. "We only had to do 26 miles with check-points every two miles and that was tough."

"When they shake your hand, they say, 'Thank you for doing this.'" Tillotson said. "We told them how honored we were to do it."

"It was a great team-building experience," Champagne said. "If you have one person on your team that is not supportive, it shows. If there is one person lagging behind, it's up to the whole team to get them back up to the front. As a team you all go through that. You have to stay positive. There were a lot of teams that didn't make it, so for us to make it was a big confidence-builder."

"Everybody has to motivate each other. You all have to finish together. It was a good experience," said Tillo tson, adding he would be willing to participate in the marathon again. "Next time I'll know what to expect."

"The biggest part of the whole experience is that everybody from NSU finished," Galgano said. "It wasn't about winning, it was about completing the race."

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