Re: Hill Watch...8 days!!!

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8 - The Clemson 8 Challenge Honors Heroes

Aug 23, 2024, 2:15 AM

Each year the Clemson 8 Challenge run is held to honor our POWs with Clemson ties. I have mentioned this event before, but it is worthy of being mentioned again – even in O.J.’s Hill Watch thread!

The event began to honor Clemson WW2 POWs specifically, but it has since expanded to include POWs from all wars. It is a great way to recognize people who deserve special recognition!

According to Clemson’s website:

“The event was created in 2020 so that Brig. Gen. Beverly “Ben” Skardon ’38 could continue his annual tradition of walking 8 ½ miles to honor his fallen brothers-in-arms. Skardon was the last living member of the six Clemson POWs who survived the Bataan Death March. He was well known as the only survivor of the actual Bataan Death March who walked in the annual Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, one of the most challenging and popular marathons in the world. The event is a pilgrimage for veterans, active-duty military members, supporters, and the few remaining survivors and family members of the men who perished in the march, the POW camps and the Death Ships.

Skardon walked in the memorial march 12 times, most often a distance of 8 ½ miles, beginning in 2007 when he was 89. His last walk at White Sands was in 2019, at age 101. Skardon planned to walk in 2020 and 2021, but the events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For Skardon, the annual trip to White Sands was the “carrot” that got him up and walking every day.

A team of students, veterans, alumni and friends created the Clemson 8 Challenge to give him back that carrot and his chance to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. In 2022, the event expanded to honor POWs from all wars. Today, there are 25 known Clemson POWs.”

https://news.clemson.edu/fourth-annual-clemson-8-challenge-will-honor-pows-on-march-9/

Brig. Gen. Beverly “Ben” Skardon is included in this picture:

“According to another Clemson webpage on the event:

Skardon participated in the first “Clemson 8” March in 2021, walking eight miles — a little over a mile a day for six consecutive days — four months shy of his 104th birthday.

Skardon trained for the Bataan Memorial March in the woods separating his neighborhood from the edge of Clemson University’s campus. His 0.33-mile “Sylvan Delight” Trail was dedicated by the City in 2019 and by the University last summer. The trail is open to the public to walk, jog, or bike.

Skardon passed away on November 15, 2021, at age 104.”

https://news.clemson.edu/third-annual-clemson-8-challenge-to-honor-pows-march-11/

Walking eight miles (just over a mile a day) at 104 years old! Wow!
Skardon is inspiration to us all! A true hero:

This year’s Clemson 8 Challenge included six event categories:
- 800 Meter Kids Run/Walk/Stroll
- 8 K or 8 Mile Race - General Public
- 8 K or 8 Mile Race - College Students and Younger
- 8 Mile Race – 5 Member College ROTC Ruck Team
- 8 Mile Relay Virtual Challenge – High School JROTC/PE Class
- 8, 14.2 & 26.2 Mile – Virtual – General Public

https://runsignup.com/Race/SC/Clemsonoratyourownlocation/ClemsonEightBataanDeathMarchRemembrance

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Clemson: Academic Excellence! Athletic Excellence!

South Carolina Highway 8 is a 44.03-mile-long state highway that runs from the south end at US 25/SC 418 in Ware Place to the north end at US 276?SC 11 in northern Greenville County, going through Pelzer, West Pelzer, Easley, Pickens, and Pumkintown.

Pickens County may be the best county in South Carolina. It has a medium size city in Easley, with a population of 24,000. It has Pickens, a town of 4,000 and the county seat, at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. It has Table Rock and Keowee Toxaway state parks and it borders Lake Hartwell, Lake Keowee, and Lake Jocassee on the east side. It has several nice small towns including my old hometown of Central. And maybe best of all, it has Clemson in the southwest corner of the county, the town of 17,000 that more than doubles when Clemson University students are in school. And on a fall football Saturday, 80,000 orange clad fans gather in town to sit in traffic, walk, talk, shop, tailgate, listen to the Tiger Pregame Show and the Tiger Tailgate Show and get to the stadium in time for the Hill Watch!

Hill Watch...8 days!!!