26th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March

Howard C

The Bataan Memorial Death March is more of an event than a race. It honors the fallen soldiers and survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March, which occurred in the Philippines during World War II. The Philippines was a U.S. protectorate at the time. After months of battle and surviving on dwindling supplies, the U.S. and Filipino forces there surrendered to Japan in April 1942. Tens of thousands of soldiers were forced to march about 65 miles from the southern Bataan peninsula to prisoner of war camps further north. Over the course of several days, they marched under grueling hot jungle conditions with minimal to no food or water. Thousands died during the forced march.

A large contingent of the U.S. armed forces defending the Philippines at the time happened to be from New Mexico. In 1989, the Army ROTC at New Mexico State University began sponsoring a march to memorialize the event. In 1992, the New Mexico National Guard joined as a sponsor and the march moved to the White Sands Missile Range, an active military base. The event has been occurring there annually since then. This year was the 26^th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March. While it is still a military-dominated event, it has gained a positive reputation in civilian marathon running circles as well. For someone like me, who has a goal of running a marathon in each of the 50 states, it was penciled in as my first choice for New Mexico. So when I got an email last fall from my running friend Nancy about trying to put a group together for doing this race in March 2015, I jumped on it. In the end, five of us decided to do this trip, all from the New York City area. Each of us registered in the “civilian” (vs. military), “light” (vs. “heavy”) and “individual” (vs. team) category.  We were “civilian” because you have to possess a military ID in order to enter in the military category. “Military” have to wear their full service uniform including boots for the march. “Heavy” means that you have to carry a 35 lbs. pack for the whole march, excluding water. Teams consist of five people, who must all finish within 20 seconds of each other. Teams are not allowed to abandon any members. Besides the marathon distance, there is an “honorary” distance, which is 14.2 miles.

Photo from http://www.bataanmarch.com/

The five of us arrived in El Paso International Airport, which is the nearest large airport, on Saturday (March 21, 2015), the day before the race. We drove for about an hour from the airport to a villa we rented out in Las Cruces, NM, which is the second largest city in New Mexico, and the nearest “big” city to the race course. After dropping off our luggage, we drove for another 30 minutes or so to the race expo at the White Sands Missile Range. This was also where the start line of the race was going to be, so the trip to the expo was helpful in learning the route we take on race day. We picked up our bibs, t-shirts, participant certificates and dog tag (finisher’s) medals without any problems. It was already pretty late in the day and the expo was clearly winding down. There had been survivors of the actual Bataan Death March in 1942 present at the expo earlier in the day, but they were long gone.

After taking care of business at the expo, we took a little time to explore the base. Outside of the expo area, there were numerous tents and campers set up on the grass, where some participants were staying overnight. There were military barracks nearby that were available for rent as well. We visited “Missile Park,” which is an outdoor museum for historic missiles tested at the base. Some of the missiles were the size of airplanes. White Sands Missile Range is actually a very historic site. This is where the super secret Manhattan Project (primarily based in nearby Los Alamos, NM) detonated Trinity, the world’s first atomic bomb. Besides the Missile Park, however, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot else available for civilians to see. This is an active military base (where, among other things, real missiles are still being tested regularly), so you can’t exactly just wander around unless you are unafraid of becoming missile fodder. As you can imagine, this base is in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

After visiting the base, we had a carbo-loading pasta dinner in Las Cruces and then went back to the villa for an early end to the evening. After long flights and a few hours in a desert climate, everyone was very tired and very dehydrated. I set my alarms and crashed quickly and hard.

In the early morning of race day (Sunday, March 22, 2015), the temperature was in the upper 30’s to low 40’s F. But it actually felt colder. One thing about deserts is that they can get quite cold overnight. I’ll never forget a hike I once did in a desert a while back where I saw patches of frosty snow on the sand in the morning, only for the temperatures to rise into the 90s later in the day, under a scorching hot sun. New Mexico, in addition, is mostly at elevation and thus has a much more temperate climate than you might expect. Although the temperatures were expected to go into the mid to upper 70’s later on race day, everyone was basically dressed for the winter that morning.

            

There was a mandatory opening ceremony that started at 6:35 AM. The March is clearly a very significant event in New Mexico. The two U.S. senators for New Mexico were there, as was the Philippines Ambassador to the U.S. There was a Black Hawk helicopter flyover. There were three actual Bataan Death March survivors who were present for the ceremony. Each firmly gave a “here!” when their names were called during a roll call. After that, the names of the Bataan Death March survivors who had passed away since last year’s Memorial March were called out, only to be answered with silence. There were a lot of names whose calls went unanswered. A lot. I could hear soft crying in the crowd starting to build around me. There was not a dry eye in the house.

After the ceremony finished, the various corrals started moving to the start line, led first by the Wounded Warriors. Cannons went off as the various waves started the race. As I approached the start line, I saw the three actual Bataan Death March survivors sitting to the side of the road. They were greeting everyone and shaking hands with the marchers. I waited my turn and shook hands with each of these three survivors. It was very humbling.

The race was scheduled to start at 7:05 AM, on a rolling basis. I did not cross the start line until about 7:45 AM. The course was closing at 8 PM, so there was plenty of time. We were starting off in civilization, on asphalt roads near base headquarters, so it felt basically like the start of most small city road marathons, except for the many uniformed military personnel.

After a short while, we hit a coarse sand trail, but it was mostly flat and quite runnable. A few miles further in, the course opened up and you could see far into the desert. I stopped and took some pictures. I ran together with Nancy for a bit before she had to fall back. Our three other friends were much further ahead as they are much more talented runners.

At about mile 7 or so, the main hill of the course started. It lasted for about 10 km (6.2 miles) and had an average grade of 4% (400 m rise over 10 km run). I was still pretty fresh so it wasn’t horrible, but it was nonetheless one of the most prolonged, steady hills I had ever encountered in a race. It was essentially the equivalent of running up an incline similar to Central Park’s Harlem Hill or Cat Hill, for a distance of the entire big loop of Central Park. For reference, per the New York Cycle Club, Cat Hill is 0.25 miles long and has a 3.7% grade. Harlem Hill is 0.32 miles long and has a 4.4% grade. Plus, there is altitude to deal with. The beginning of the Bataan Memorial Death March hill is at ~4000 ft elevation and the highest point is at ~5400 feet. This altitude is not too bad if you are just walking, but you can definitely feel the difference if you try to run. I slowly jogged this uphill section, with plenty of walk breaks, especially for the steeper (8% or so grade) sections.

Elevation and distance in meters. The numbers along the course are the aid stations.  Photo from http://www.bataanmarch.com/

The top of the hill was about the halfway point of the course. I reached there at about 2 hours and 19 minutes. At this point, I knew the original 4 hours and 30 minutes finish goal I had casually guesstimated was no longer possible. With a lot of downhills to go, however, 4 hours and 45 minutes seemed realistic. Meanwhile, there were matters of more immediate interest. At the top of the hill, there was an aid station. The wind must have hit us perfectly, because a fellow runner and I could smell something good cooking. The other runner kept going, but I was drawn to the smell like a tractor beam. I found the source of the smell, and it was a grill where they were cooking burgers and hot dogs! I could not turn it down. I was actually their first customer and ordered a cheeseburger and potato chips. At $4 with all the toppings you wanted, how could I say no? I resumed the race, running downhill for the next two miles, refueling myself with small bites of the burger and chips. The runners around me were incredulous as they saw me running by them, burger and chips in hand. “Protein” and “sodium” I explained. In total there was about a 10 km downhill section, which I mostly ran at a decent (for me) clip (approximately 8:00 – 8:30 min/mi pace).

There were some incredible views of the expanse of the desert around us. At about the 18 mile mark, the route merged with an earlier part of the course, which had marchers who were going the other way. They were roughly at their 10 mile mark, in the middle of their long uphill climb. These folks were mostly military team marchers, dressed in full uniform and carrying heavy 35 lbs. packs. It was an impressive sight. I did my best to salute, wave or otherwise cheer them on. They were friendly and cheered back.

A team of soldiers.  Photo courtesy of Nancy O.

Between mile 20 and 21, we hit a fairly longish stretch of deep sand. This section was tough, especially at this stage of the race. My legs protested loudly. I had no choice but to mentally adjust my goal finish time further down. I decided that if I could break 5 hours, I would be very happy. (For reference, I think if I had run a standard sea-level road marathon, all else being equal, I would have run it in roughly 4 hours and 15 minutes or so that day.) Fortunately, the course footing eventually improved to a firmer sand, then back to asphalt for the final stretch to the finish line. I was elated and relieved when I finally crossed the line. Although I’ve run a fair number of marathons (The Bataan Memorial Death March was my 44^th marathon or ultramarathon), I never take finishing a race for granted. I’ve DNF’ed 3 times at marathons or ultras before. I was feeling tired, but great, and most importantly, I finished the run without any injuries. My primary race goal for the spring of 2015 is finishing the Comrades Marathon up run within the twelve hour time limit, and this race was superb training for that.

My official Bataan Memorial Death March time was 4:57:59 (11:22 overall pace), which was good enough for 78^th place out of 885 in the civilian male light individual category. Normally, I finish in the middle of the pack, or in the second half of the finishers, especially in travel races. The median finishing time in my category was roughly 7 hours and 50 minutes. Thus, most of the participants at this event were clearly walking. Nancy finished about an hour later after I did. The other three of our travel companions on the trip are super fast runners. Keila finished in 3:30:12 (which is just unfathomable to me, on that course). She won the women’s civilian light category! Benny finished in 3:40:47, which was good for 7^th in the civilian male light individual category. Brian H (a former New York Flyer) finished right behind him in 3:40:56, 8^th place in the category. Benny and Brian were also #1 and #2 for their age group respectively as well.

We celebrated afterwards at a local restaurant/institution called La Posta De Mesilla, consuming the usual crazy amounts of food a runner eats after a tough marathon. Later that afternoon, we did the tourist thing and saw most of the recommended sites in Las Cruces, NM, which mostly revolve around local legend Billy The Kid. That took less than an hour.

The Bataan Memorial Death March is a race I would definitely recommend. For anyone considering doing this race, I would recommend doing it as soon as possible, because there likely won’t be too many actual Bataan Death March survivors around soon given their ages. I would definitely consider repeating this race in the future, probably in the “heavy” division with a pack. Overall, it was an unforgettable and exceptional event, and it deserves a place on every runner’s bucket list.

-Howard C