MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. --
Eighty Marines across the base competed in Camp Pendleton’s 2010 Leatherneck Field Meet at the 11 Area field, Oct. 27.
The fifth annual meet was a full day of competition that involved endurance and plenty of camaraderie. The event included contests such as the humvee push, pull-ups, fire-team push-ups, a 1600 meter relay, dizzy-izzy, and tug of war; all performed in boots and utilities.
In the past, base units coordinated this event, said Phil Bryant, sports coordinator, Semper Fit, Marine Corps Community Services. However, with MCCS now running the event, all the Marines have to do is show up and compete.
The first event was the humvee push, which involved approximately 15-man team pushing the vehicle 400 meters around a track.
Next were pull-ups. Each team simply did as many pull-ups as possible to get the highest score.
The third event was the 1600 meter relay, but instead of a baton the runners passed their respective company’s guidons.
Fire-team pushups followed the relay, where each team oriented themselves in a square formation with each Marine’s feet across the shoulders of the other and the group objective being to complete as many pushups as possible.
Tug-of-War was the next event right before the participants were treated to a barbeque to quench the hunger of the weary competition.
Full on burgers and soda, the participants’ stomachs were tested with the final event, the Dizzy-Izzy. Competitors laid their foreheads on a baseball bat that is standing straight up, and spun around several times before taking off to complete a 20-yard dash.
“The Leatherneck Field Meet, in a way, is a culmination of the Pendleton Cup series,” said Tom Fisher, athletic director, Semper Fit, MCCS, and retired Marine. “It’s a good way to end (the series) with a traditional Marine Corps event. While field meet events may have changed since my day as a Marine, I still love to see the intensity of the troops.”
The overall winner of the event was 9th Communication Battalion, who is also in the lead for the Pendleton Cup.
“It was a great competition, I really liked the pull-ups,” said Cpl. Duncan C. Reidner, separations clerk, Disbursing Company, Combat Logistics Regiment-17, 1st Marine Logistics Group, who did 51 pull-ups in two rounds. “I didn’t know about the field meet until the last minute, but I’m glad that my unit always trains hard. We are always ready for anything that comes up.”