October - ACO - NATO

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KFOR CHRONICLEBy Tech. Sgt. Claudette HutchinsonHQ KFOR PIOPhotos by 1st LT Maksym Nedria,Ukrainian ArmyIt was a crisp fall morning as thebuzz of excitement and anxiety filledthe air. Spirits were running high as950 troops from 21 nations gatheredfor the grueling DANCON March,Oct. 9, at Camp Olaf Rye."It was very satisfactory to see somany participants from such differentparts of the world making an effort forcompleting a task together. The soldiers'oldest and most important taskto move from one place to anotherwith equipment and weapon. Asorganizer it was very satisfactory tosee so many happy faces at thebeginning of the course. However,not all of them were that happy whenthey got back to the Camp," saidCapt. K. Gertsen, Danish Sports andWelfare Office.However, today they all had very differentgoals; some wanted to setrecords, some to break them; however,most looked forward to theexperience and challenge of finishingthe course."Good weather, feet ready, I wasamong 950 participants and waslooking forward to the next 25 km,and off we went. Before starting Iwas thinking how hard could this be- marching 25 km in beautiful weatherand terrain," said Pvt. A.Q.D A N C O26Oct. 31, 2005www.nato.int/kfor
NM a r c hKFOR CHRONICLElonger to finish the course. Someeven stopped to enjoy the view andtake pictures, of the leaves shimmeringin the mid-morning sun displayingthe amazing colors of fall. In theend, the DANCON March is a test ofdetermination, will power, teamworkand the joy of victory, it shows 21nations, working together in unity,towards a one goal."It was a lot of fun. I liked the friendlycompetition with the other countries.We helped each other alongthe way," said Tech. Sgt. LesterSergeant Neipert, HQ KFOR(USAF). He finished in 3:21 mins.Vestergaard, Danish Contingent.The 25.2 km route was a primaryand secondary road, to include somevery rough and steep terrain. All participantshad to be in uniform andwere required to carry 10 kgs ofequipment, including their weapons,with a maximum completion time of 8hours.Col. M. Bech, Commanding OfficerDanish Battalion, he advised everyoneto train and prepare seriouslybefore participating, in order to avoidinjuries.Later, Private Vestergaard learnedthis lesson of being properly prepared,the hard way. "My feet werehurting a lot going down to Post 4 butI did not dare to take off my boots off.My feet wanted to stop, but my brainwas forcing them to continue...I hadsome very bad blisters," he said.According to Helmer Hansen,Senior Medical Officer DanishContingent blisters are common inthese events.It wasn't long before the fist personwas making his way to the finish line,Roland Fuchs, UNMIK Police,Germany, finishing in 2:14 mins.Five minutes later Jean-NicolasMartin, HQ KFOR France followedwith a time of 2:19 mins, and SvenFrancet, BELUKOS, Belgium, with atime of 2:21 mins. Capt. Anne-SofieEriksen, DANBAT, Denmark was thefastest woman to ever complete themarathon, finishing in 2:27 mins."It was a very difficult course. Thefirst part of the course was normal. Ifelt good. However, going up the hillwas very difficult. But, I'll do it again,"said Stephane Arena, MSU Pristina,who finished in 3:15 mins.Nevertheless, not everyone wasready for the challenge and took a bitwww.nato.int/kfor Oct. 31, 2005 27
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