MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- Military members, civilians and adventure seekers from around Oahu joined Combat Service Support Group 3 Saturday for their 11th Annual JN Chevrolet Swamp Romp to raise money for this year’s CSSG-3 Marine Corps Ball.
“Oahu’s dirtiest footrace” began at the Boondocker building, neighboring the Marine Corps Exchange Annex parking lot at 7 a.m. on MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay. The starting gun gave the eclectic group of runners their first chance to get into the combat training mood, as the nearly 1,200 runners commenced to get dirty.
According to Marine Corps Community Services, the Swamp Romp boasts a course that gets even the grunts grueling every year. The event is open to the daring, and CSSG-3 and JN Chevrolet invite everyone and anyone who thinks they can hack it, to race.
The teams of six were required to finish together, and teams that finished without a teammate were penalized 60 seconds from their total race time. Leaving the Boondocker Landing Zone area, runners continued past the rappel tower into a thick mud pit and over a hill and a log-wall, before continuing along another treacherous 100-ft strip of mud that led to the back of LZ Boondocker to the street.
“That first part there was the most exciting part of the race for sure,” said Joe Au, intramural sports coordinator for MCCS. “People were just diving into the mud head first. It was awesome!”
According to Au, there was a huge crowd gathered at the first portion of the race, booing and heckling those who chose to take the dry route to avoid getting muddy. Cheers of excitement came from the crowd after every face-first nosedive. Runners circled back along the only paved portion of the route until they came to a slight decline into the “waste”-deep creek.
“It stunk to high heaven,” said Nathan DeWeerd of the Provost Marshal’s Office. “The mud under the water was up to your waist, and I could swear that something was eating my skin, but who knows.”
The race trail entered into the Nuupia Ponds, and it was there that participants met up with the most daunting portion of the run — almost a quarter-mile stretch of waist-deep mud, where even the most fit of the 1,200 participants was slowed to sluggish pace. The trail continued through a pathway used primarily for armored, tracked vehicles, where the runners encountered a simulated combat environment. Sounds of machineguns blazing filled the Nuupia Ponds as the runners passed over, under and around a series of log obstacles.
Just when they thought the torture had ceased, runners crossed Mokapu Road and were hit with a fire hose before commencing the beach-run portion and turning around in the ocean at Fort Hase Beach. Somewhat relieved of the stinky mud, the runners continued their run along the beach, low-crawling their way back to Mokapu Road where they crossed again for the final leg of the near 5-mile run. As the teams looped around LZ Boondocker, it was painfully obvious what they had all just experienced, as some teams hobbled, hopped, were carried and crawled across the finish line.
“It’s been tremendous,” said coordinator, Regina Reiche of MCCS. “There were absolutely no hitches whatsoever, and everyone got completely covered in mud, which is exactly what we wanted, so it was a huge success. People said that it was a great course this year, and they were happy because they got what they wanted — to be completely covered in mud.”
According to Reiche, the 197 teams of six that registered for the run was just three shy of their goal of 200 teams, far more than last year’s approximately 150 teams. Col. Brian Hearnsberger, commanding officer of CSSG-3, agreed that the event was a spectacular success.
“Everything has gone extremely well this year,” said Hearnsberger. “We had more participants this year than the last, and we hope to continue to help this thing grow by
offering an even better Swamp Romp next year.”
After the event, runners showered and enjoyed complimentary refreshments while they awaited the announcement of the winners, which were as follows: The overall first place winners were the “G-Men,” who could be identified by the words “Federal Agent” on the back of their T-shirts. The women’s masters winners were Kelly Noonan’s “Wicked Cool.” For the young men, Gary Harbison’s team captured first, while the men’s masters first place winners were Tim Noonan’s “Why us?” The women’s open winners were “T&A,” or “Tactically Disadvantaged,” led by Maureen Manufeka. In the warriors category, Rob Adams’ team, “Steel Rain” captured gold, and the overall military team was “3rd Marine Nokadi,” led by Jason Kut. The mixed-team winners were Mark Bustamante’s team, called “Living Aloha.”