Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tim Eggleston rounds a corner during the Wiesbaden 25-Stundenlauf, a 25-hour relay race around a track at the Kurpark downtown, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. Eggleston, an aviation warrant officer, and 11 other soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden placed second of 11 teams in the competitive category. (Dan Stoutamire/Stars and Stripes)
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tim Eggleston rounds a corner during the Wiesbaden 25-Stundenlauf, a 25-hour relay race around a track at the Kurpark downtown, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. Eggleston, an aviation warrant officer, and 11 other soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden placed second of 11 teams in the competitive category. (Dan Stoutamire/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Elias Chesire of U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden races in the Wiesbaden 25-Stundenlauf, a 25-hour relay race held annually in downtown Wiesbaden, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. Chesire and 11 other USAG Wiesbaden soldiers took second place out of 11 teams in the race's competitive division. (Dan Stoutamire/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers and family members of U.S. Army Garrison run a celebratory lap around the Kurpark in downtown Wiesbaden after the conclusion of a 25-hour relay race, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. The 12-soldier team, the only all-American outfit, finished second of 11 teams in the race's competitve division. (Dan Stoutamire/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers and family members of U.S. Army Garrison celebrate at the Kurpark in downtown Wiesbaden after the conclusion of a 25-hour relay race, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. The 12-soldier team, the only all-American outfit, finished second of 11 teams in the race's competitve division. (Dan Stoutamire/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany — Twelve soldiers from U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden spent last weekend taking turns running as fast as they could for more than a day, collectively running more than 382 kilometers, or 237.4 miles, in 25 hours.
That was good enough for the soldiers to take second place out of 11 teams in Wiesbaden’s annual 25-Stunden-Lauf. Thousands of runners from clubs and businesses around the region took part, mostly in the fun-run division, which included more than 50 25-person teams.
It was an improvement on last year’s showing, team captain Chief Warrant Officer 4 Tim Eggleston said.
“Last year we kind of fell into it, and we got seventh place — which is still pretty good, the highest we’ve ever placed as a military team — but we didn’t have a strategy,” he said.
For this year’s race, Eggleston assembled a squad of elite runners, all of whom had to be able to run 925 meters — the length of one lap around the path behind Wiesbaden’s iconic Kurhaus — in under 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Four months of weekly speed training ensured the team was ready for the demands of running that distance consistently.
Eggleston also studied the strategies of consistent winners in the division and staggered his team to enable it to get at least six hours of sleep during the run. The soldiers represented Team Red, White and Blue or Team RWB, an outreach organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity.
stoutamire.dan@stripes.com Twitter: @DKS_Stripes
