Straight Talk: Hanscom Olympics

  • Published
  • By Col. Stacy L. Yike
  • 66th Air Base Group commander
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Thanks to everyone who participated in the Hanscom Olympics last week. We had a great program with more than 270 participants comprised of military members and Department of Defense civilians. The Olympics offered 12 events this year, for both individuals and teams, with varying degrees of physical challenge. This year, golf was added to the events lineup, as well as multiple team competitions, such as basketball, dodgeball, racquetball, tennis, volleyball and the build-a-boat contest.

The boats all proved to be sea worthy, but only one was victorious in the race. One team decided to keep their boat to coach next year's team on building cardboard vessels.

We had the highest participation to date for the triathlon. Fifty people participated, even with a looming thunderstorm. Numerous participants expressed their appreciation of the challenging course developed, which included a 500 meter swim, 22K bike race and 5K run.

The most popular event of all was the 5K run held on Friday morning. It was a tremendous showing of more than 200 people running the course.

The winning teams were announced at the closing ceremonies and a free burger burn was held Friday afternoon at the tennis bubble. The 66th Air Base Group won the Hanscom Olympics trophy for having the highest points across all events. The prized Electronic Systems Center Commander's Cup went to the Cyber/Netcentric Directorate.

I believe we achieved our goal to promote physical fitness, camaraderie and fun. It is up to you to keep up the energy this summer!

Mark your calendar for other great community-wide events. Upcoming events and activities include the 22nd annual Battle Road 5K Run and America's Armed Forces Kids Run on May 21. Astronomy Night will take place June 4 at Memorial Park and Heroes Homecoming and Summer Bash will be June 24.

Check out the calendar of events at www.HanscomServices.com to find out about these and other programs and events provided by the 66th Force Support Squadron.