An NMU ROTC team took home the gold this past Saturday, Nov. 10, in the first annual ROTC Frozen Chosin Endurathon.

The event featured an 18-mile trek, which started behind the Superior Dome, along the Nequomenon trail north of Marquette. Along the way, competitors had to shimmy across the Dead River on a rope, rappel down a rock wall, drag a 250 pound rescue sled, lift a telephone pole and canoe across a lake.

The race was held in heats, which left in 20 minute increments, with the winning team being decided by the team with the quickest time through the course. The Northern team that won the event started in the fourth heat, but crossed the finish line ahead of all but two teams.

“I think our team did real well. It was a great race,” Walter Hanson, a member of the winning team, said. “There were a lot of good teams out there, though.”

The other NMU team competing in the endurathon finished fifth out the 22 teams in the contest. That team had two members who were unable to finish, an act which penalizes the team 20:00 for each person who has to drop out during the race.

“We really had some catastrophic events occur, we lost one member-who had had pneumonia-drop out close to the start of the race,” David Campbell, a member of NMU’s fifth place team said. “Later we had a guy who got blisters and had to drop out.”

This same team was further hampered when they strayed from the trail and became lost. The team ended up on the wrong side of the lake and had to canoe across the lake twice during the competition.

“We took a wrong turn and we were off on some blue trail and it was pretty hairy and rocky,” Campbell said. “Overall though, I’m happy with our performance.”