Vanderbilt Army ROTC sent cadets to compete in the annual Army Ten-Miler race on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C., for the first time in battalion history. The team competed against 63 other groups in the ROTC and military academy division, placing ninth. 

Army ROTC students from Vanderbilt, Belmont University, Tennessee State University, Trevecca Nazarene University, Fisk University, Welch College and Lipscomb University comprise Vanderbilt’s Gold Go Battalion. The runners for the Gold Go Battalion were Vanderbilt senior Khalil Kwok, first-year Billy Lubas, sophomore Richard Loya and sophomore JT Off, as well as TSU senior David Allen and junior Chris Allen. 

The race took place in downtown Washington D.C., circling the Pentagon, National Mall and other monuments. Lubas finished first out of the six runners, completing the Ten-Miler in 1:04:25 at a 6:36 minute average per mile. The race calculates team standings from the sums of the top four individual times in each team. The top four times for the Golden Go Battalion added to 4:24:37, meaning the team ran an average 6:37 minute-mile. 

“We had a good idea of what everyone in our team would run coming in and hoped to place in the top 10,” Kwok, Alpha Company Operations NCO, said. “Everyone actually ran faster than they were projected in the time trial, so I’m very, very happy and proud of our team.”

Loya further detailed the strong and fierce energy among racers during the race. 

“The race was a thrilling experience. At the start line, there was an intense, competitive and motivated atmosphere,” Loya said. “The fact that there were other ROTC battalions from across the nation only increased our motivation to run well and place the Go Gold Battalion among the top teams.”

Kwok transferred to Vanderbilt last year and had run the Ten-Miler with ROTC at his previous school. As a senior in ROTC, Kwok said he has had more freedom to implement new initiatives and worked to bring the tradition of the Army’s Ten-Miler to Vanderbilt.

“Since we’re in Nashville, and it’s about 10 hours from here to D.C., it’s usually very infeasible for our ROTC program to send teams across the country, but we talked a lot about it as a battalion,” Kwok said. “We started fundraising initiatives and eventually allocated funds aside just for the Ten-Miler, and the rest became history.”

After a time trial in August, Kwok explained that the team only trained twice together in the month leading up to the October race, given AROTC’s pre-existing physical training schedule. 

Kwok said he hopes that the tradition of the Army Ten-Miler will continue after he graduates and indicated interest in organizing a similar team in the spring for the Norwegian Foot March, a timed ruck encompassing an 18.64-mile walk while carrying a 24.25-pound bag. The location of this event is still being determined.