Subscribe

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. — A soldier assigned to Camp Casey, South Korea, and a Misawa Air Base, Japan, airman have been selected for the All-Armed Forces taekwondo team, which will travel to Zagreb, Croatia, in August for the International Military Sports Council (CISM) championship.

Casey’s Kevin Williams and Misawa’s Leslie Jones earned spots on the nine-member team in the U.S. Taekwondo Union national championship last weekend in New Orleans.

Williams went 3-1 in the men’s heavyweight division, while Jones lost her only bout in the women’s featherweight category.

Other Pacific military members appearing in New Orleans were Camp Casey’s Timothy Harrell, who went 2-1 in the men’s flyweight division; Casey’s Matthew Darby, 0-1 at men’s lightweight; and Johnny Birch of Korea’s Camp Hovey, 1-1 at men’s middleweight.

The CISM competition is scheduled for Aug. 9-17.

Hawaii spouse goes distance to win Ironman Japan

FUKUE, Japan — A Marine dependent spouse from Hawaii won the women’s championship and set a course record in the swim portion of the Ironman Japan triathlon May 18 at Fukue, on Goto Island in southwestern Japan.

Deirdre Tennant, 31, of Cherry Hill, N.J., was timed in the 2.356-mile swim, 111.6-mile bicycle race and the 26-mile, 385-yard run in 9 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds, beating Germany’s Nicole Leder by 3:59. Tennant took 14th overall behind Leder’s husband, Lothar, who checked in at 8:44:58.

“It’s great. It’s a good feeling,” said Tennant, whose husband, Thomas, is a Marine captain. The two live at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii, but he’s currently on a seven-month deployment to Okinawa.

It was Tennant’s second full triathlon. Her first was the Ironman World Championship at Kona in 2001. Tennant swam for LaSalle University in Philadelphia and has competed in Olympic-distance triathlons, but only two full Ironman events.

She almost didn’t make it to Fukue. Concerned about the SARS virus, race organizers issued a ban on most foreign competitors arriving on Goto after May 5.

Tennant traveled from Hawaii to Okinawa on May 1, intending to see her husband, but after he deployed to the Philippines, she left for Fukue, beating the deadline.

“Good thing I left when I did,” she said. “I basically almost bagged it. It was tough getting to the race, but once I got to the race, everything fell into place.”

Tennant finished the swim portion in 51:31, was timed at 6:31:48 in the bicycle portion and ran the full marathon in 3:16:46.

Sign Up for Daily Headlines

Sign up to receive a daily email of today's top military news stories from Stars and Stripes and top news outlets from around the world.

Sign Up Now