Airmen strengthen bond through fitness

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Michael O'Connor
  • 31st Fighter Wing public affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  A record-setting 45 three-person running teams, 11 from the 31st Fighter Wing, took part in a 7-kilometer race atop the Piancavallo Mountain perched above the base here Aug. 2. The annual event is part of the Veteran Alpini Group of Aviano's alumni celebration honoring past and present Alpini members. 

Col. C.Q. Brown Jr., 31st Fighter Wing commander, Col. Patrick McClelland, 31st FW vice commander, and Col. Brian Kelly, 31st Mission Support Group commander, took part in a flag raising and wreath laying ceremony, and a holy mass prior to the start of the 7K run with veterans from the Alpini alumni association and other civic leaders from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Later, they handed out trophies, five of which went to teams from the base. 

"This year's two-day event was the fifty-eighth year since it began, the forty-third since the running event was incorporated, and the twelfth year since trophies were awarded to participants in the running competition," said Signora Luisa Merlo, 31st FW public affairs specialist.
 
The race required each member of the team to each run the same 7K loop, pitting man and woman versus the mountain, as Piancavallo is situated at 1,267 meters above sea level and is at the foot of the Monte Cavallo with a peak of 2,251 meters. 

The course took runners up two grueling hills to the half-way point of the course and then up and down a series of smaller, but equally challenging, mountainous terrain requiring balance and fancy footwork to keep from tripping over the boulders and tree roots along the route as they headed back toward the start/finish line where cheering family, friends and veteran Alpini awaited their arrival. 

As runners neared the peak of the half-way marker, a quick glance over their shoulder yielded a breathtaking view of Italy's Po Valley. On a crystal-clear day, runners, hikers and mountain bikers can see all the way to Venice and the Adriatic Sea. 

While this annual celebration is primarily for the Alpini and their families to celebrate their history as the oldest active mountain infantry in the world, civil engineers assigned to Aviano Air Base, Italy, also have a deep-rooted history with the Alpini dating back more than three decades. 

From May to September 1976, a series of major earthquakes measuring as high as 6.9 on the Richter scale and countless aftershocks, rattled the people of the FVG region, killing more than 900 people, injuring more than 2,400 and leaving 45,000-plus homeless. Members of the former 40th Civil Engineer Flight, 40th Tactical Group, stationed at Aviano AB were some of the many Airmen and Soldiers stationed in Italy who came to the aid of their Alpini brethren and the citizens in the FVG region. 

"The civil engineers have partnered and formed a brotherhood with the Alpini Italian Mountain Militia, 10th Mountain Division," said Tech. Sgt. Steven Viau, 31st CES representative who helped organize the base teams that competed in this year's run. Sergeant Viau who was on the first American team to finish the event this year, said "This event is an example of the interaction between the 31st FW and the Alpini and strengthens the foundation of our community relations in the local area."