A course in toughness

Most teams in the Citadel Bulldog Challenge started out smiling, but that didn't last long.

During the first obstacle -- running up and down the bleachers of Hagood Stadium 18 times -- their faces turned red. When they reached the pull-up bar, many were pasty. With each of the 18 obstacles, the sweat, the panting and the grimacing increased.

Five hundred and fifty people signed up for this -- a six mile endurance course designed to test physical and mental toughness. They included a former Miss South Carolina, a group from the Charleston Fire Department, and military and civilian teams from as far as Texas and Maine.

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Bulldog Challenge

Over 500 participants competed in the 14th Annual Citadel Bulldog Challenge challenge held at the Citadel. The event this year is being held to honor fallen 2004 Citadel graduate, Captain Warren A. Frank (USMC). Proceeds from this year's race will go toward the Captain Warren A. Frank Memorial Leadership Fund.

Saturday marked the 14th year of the event sponsored by the campus Semper Fidelis Society. Proceeds, which still were being tallied Saturday night, will go to a scholarship to honor Marine Capt. Warren A. Frank, who graduated from the Citadel in 2004 and was killed in Iraq in 2008 while delivering humanitarian aid.

His father, Warren R. Frank, drove from Cincinnati to attend the event. He said he's had two big challenges in his life: going to Arlington to bury his son and returning to the Citadel this weekend.

"I'll leave here feeling better than I did when I left Arlington," he said. "This has been good, real good.... I think every one of these people is amazing. I like their spirit."

Midway through the course, the teams of four crawled through pluff mud. And some then took advantage of parking lot rain puddles to get the weighty stuff off. They climbed ropes, carried each other on their shoulders, did lunges holding ammo cans filled with sand. Much of the course had to be completed while carrying 30-pound sandbags.

Among the copious amounts of camo there were also teams dressed as leprechauns, referees and the '80s band A Flock of Seagulls.

One team of Citadel seniors came as tourists, wearing khaki pants and multi-color button-up shirts.

Before they began, Matt Carey explained his reason for taking part: "I wanted to get my classmates involved that haven't done this before, and help raise funds for Captain Frank's leadership fund."

Teammate Jules Schwerin said, "I stopped smoking on Tuesday for this, so I'm hoping I can drag myself across the finish line."

The competition began about an hour late because of a larger-than-expected turnout and computer issues.

"Team Misfits" was one of the last to start. They met after arriving on the Citadel campus that morning. Shannan Wulff of West Ashley said she and her 15-year-old son showed up just to see if they could complete the challenge. They were joined by two Lowcountry residents who came individually, 44-year-old Kristi Oldham and 16-year-old Jacob McMahan who said, "I just thought it'd be cool."

The team finished in two hours and three minutes, making them 61st out of the 137 teams.

The overall winner was a team of students from the Navy ROTC unit at Old Dominion University, who finished the challenge in one hour and 21 minutes. The top military/ROTC team was "The Yankees," a group of midshipmen (cadets) and active duty Marines from The Citadel.

Reach Kristen Hankla at 937-5548 or khankla@postandcourier.com.