KPRT to hold 24-hour relay run

By Captain Fraser Clark

Pounding around the perimeter fence of Camp Nathan Smith under the hammer of Kandahar’s summer sun, dozens of members of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT) are conditioning themselves to run a 24-hour relay on Canada Day.

A significant test of endurance by any standard, the 24-hour relay run is not a race, but a fund-raiser for Captain Trevor Greene of The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in Vancouver, B.C. On 4 March 2006, when Capt Green was serving with the KPRT as a CIMIC team leader, he was attacked while conducting a village shura. The assailant struck him on the head with an axe, and the wound was particularly serious because Capt Greene had taken his helmet off to demonstrate trust.

Capt Greene has many supporters in Force Protection Company, commanded by Major Rich Raymond, who is managing the 24-hour relay run.

“Several soldiers from my company served with Captain Greene, so there’s a personal connection with my men and him,” said Major Raymond. “We, soldiers and civilians alike, spend upwards of six months here helping Afghans. This is an opportunity to help one of our own who was so badly injured here, giving it his all.”

Ten teams of KPRT members will begin the gruelling 24-hour relay run at noon on 30 June. The teams will come from the entire spectrum of the KPRT: military, civilian and local national staff. Each team must have at least one runner on the track throughout the 24-hour period.

“It’s going to be damn hot during those daylight hours,” said Capt Tylere Couture, a Tactical CIMIC team leader from Campbell River, British Columbia, who is training for the run. “I’m looking forward to it, and think it will be one of the tougher physical endurance tests I’ve experienced.”

During the final leg of the run, Major Raymond will organize all runners so they cross the finish line in unison, representing the kind of teamwork and dedication this relay takes.

Following the relay, an awards ceremony will be held and the team that completes the most laps will be declared the official winner. All money raised will be donated to the Captain Trevor Green Trust Fund, the Centennial Centre for Mental Health and Brain Injury, and the Military Casualty Support Foundation.