University News

2014 WIU Fallen Soldiers 5k Set for Oct. 18

September 15, 2014

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MACOMB, IL -- "We need to thank all of our troops, and particularly those for whom we can never express enough gratitude for they have given their lives so that all of us may be free and that our democracy can be a shining light for the rest of the world." - Virgil Goode.

Western Illinois University's third annual Fallen Soldiers 5k Run/Walk will be held Saturday, Oct. 18 at the WIU-Macomb campus. This year, event organizers hope to raise over and above the $16,000 raised in 2013, when more than 450 walkers and runners joined forces to honor Capt. Derek Dobogai and Lt. Col. Robert Baldwin. Since 2012, the Fallen Soldiers 5k Run/Walk has raised more than $26,000 for the WIU Fallen Soldier's Scholarship Fund, which honors two alumni who were killed in the line of duty.

Dobogai, who graduated from Western in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in law enforcement and justice administration, was among the 14 U.S. soldiers aboard a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed Aug. 22, 2007, in northern Iraq.

Baldwin, who earned a bachelor's degree in industrial technology from WIU in 1993, was killed Sept. 21, 2010, when his Blackhawk UH-60 helicopter carrying Navy SEALs crashed during combat operations in the Zabul province of Afghanistan.

Race registration is $25 (until Oct. 6), which includes a technical t-shirt, a finisher medal and a football ticket for the Fighting Leathernecks game versus Illinois State Oct. 18. After Oct. 6, registration is $35 (participants are not guaranteed a t-shirt, medal or football ticket).

For more information, to register and/or to become a race sponsor, visit wiu.edu/vpas/wellness/event.php?id=563, or email fallensoldiers5k@wiu.edu.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing