* From: Hannah Hawley
* Event: Walter N Levy Challenge
* Event Details
“Walter N. Levy attended Norwich University, Class of 1963 and served as Marine Corps Second Lieutenant Infantry Officer who was killed in action on September 18th, 1965 in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. The Walter N Levy Challenge is a 6.5 mile endurance race that will challenge you both mentally and physically with events such as: The Marine Corps obstacle course, steep grade of Hill 488, Quang Nam mud crawl, Rock Pile ammo resupply mission, pull-up challenge, Hue City ruck run, and the Da Nang serpentine. A portion of the proceeds from the Levy Challenge will be donated to a scholarship fund in Walter N. Levy’s name and the Semper Fi Fund to support injured service members and their families.”
Parking was free and ample. There was no long distance to walk to registration or the start/finish. The facilities had indoor warm bathrooms, bleachers for family and friends to sit and wait, and an opening ceremony to celebrate Vietnam Veterans and Walter N Levy. There appeared to only be on vendor with some food and drinks for sale, as this is a small local event that is not widely advertised, I was surprised to see any vendors at all.
There was no additional swag for sale, the tshirt was basic but nice, the finishers dog tag was great. We were told we would be given things throughout the course and we had to still have them at certain check points. In order to earn our tshirt, we had to provide our dog tag that we were given in the middle of the race. A detail I loved.
* Race Details
The course was relatively flat after Killington but there was some elevation change and it did add to the difficulty. The half mile river run with instructions to not walk on the stones, in other words keep in the river an off the banks and dry humps, was perhaps my most challenging. There were overs, unders, low crawls, bear crawls, high crawls, back crawls, pull ups, rope climb, different carries, walls, and some were done with rifles, rucks, and other various paraphernalia. There were not assigned penalties for missing an obstacle, that didn’t stop Debbie and I from busting out some burpees for the only two failed obstacles of the day.
It was not a super hard, hurt yourself course, there were obstacles that I hadn’t encountered before and pushed me. I would rate this with a difficulty of 7/8 out of 10 mainly because of the river run. Take out the river run and I would lower it to a 6/7.
The event is growing and wants to keep growing. I am signing up for next year for sure.
* Rating
Above Average
