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Fairchild's Great Race a success

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Larry W. Carpenter Jr.
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Fairchild held its second annual Great Race June 1, sending participants on a clue-searching mission around the base and downtown Spokane. The event began at midnight and ran until 12 p.m., culminating with an awards ceremony at Miller Park here during the base picnic.

The 92nd Services Squadron put together the race, which challenged participants both physically and mentally. This year, the race consisted of 17 two-person teams and was based on points, rather than time.

"We wanted to base the race on points to try and prevent the teams from speeding around town," said Staff Sgt. Mikel Daniel, 92nd Services Squadron fitness center craftsman in charge of special of events.

The event kicked off with a search-and-recovery exercise in which participants raced to recover a puzzle piece with their team's number on it. After that, each race recovery point contained clues for the teams to decipher, leading them to their next location and event.

"The clues on base were pretty easy, but some of the clues off base were really hard," said Sergeant Daniel. "For some of the clues, the racers needed to know Latin and Greek."

Once they completed the search, they headed into a round robin which included three events: the fireman's challenge, 18 holes of glow-in-the-dark Frisbee golf and a bakeoff.
After the round-robin, team members rushed to the lower South Hill area of Spokane for a six-mile run/hike.

"The six-mile trail split along the way into separate trails and the teams had to decide whether to take the hard or easy path," said Sergeant Daniel. "The teams were awarded more points for taking the harder paths."

"I was proud that everybody made it through," said Master Sgt. Calvin Wilson, 92nd Operations Group first sergeant and one of the Great Race winners. "They told us at the beginning of the run that some of you will twist your ankles."

The sponsor for the Great Race was the University of Phoenix, who also hosted the next event - Soduko. Fatigued from the six-mile hike, the teams had to complete two puzzles before moving to the next event.

"If they knew Soduko it showed, and if they didn't, it really showed," Sergeant Daniel said. "The times ranged from 11 minutes to over an hour."

The teams then made their way to River Park Square in Spokane for their final round robin which included a rock-wall climb, a 15,000-pound lifting challenge and an Easter egg clue hunt. After this round robin, teams headed to Clear Lake for a paddle-boat competition, and finally back to the base.

The winners? Lt. Col. Michael Gaal, 92nd Operations Support Squadron commander and Master Sgt. Calvin Wilson, 92nd Operations Group first sergeant, who called themselves "The Old Wizards," finished first place, beating the second-place team by 15 points.

"I enjoyed it over all," said Sergeant Wilson. "I thrive off of those types of challenges that push you to the limit and see how far you can go."

"It was an absolute success, the contestants had fun and were safe," said Sergeant Daniel.