Ocean City to Kick Off Summer With Beach Challenge Events

A day after the mayor officially "unlocks the ocean" for 2013 season in Ocean City, a new Memorial Day Weekend event will include two of the hottest new fitness trends: stand-up paddleboarding and obstacle racing.

The inaugural StandUP4SEALS 'Get in the Fight' Beach Challenge will offer three separate events Saturday, May 25, on the beach at Fourth Street: a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) relay in a box course that includes legs through the surf; a Tough Mudder-like beach run that includes five obstacles; and a fun run for kids.

Race organizers visited the Ocean City Music Pier on Friday to announce details of the event, which will raise money for the families of Navy SEALS killed in action.

Chad and Kristen Gallagher, 1992 graduates of Ocean City High School, classmate Patrick Gill, former Navy SEAL Mark Baum and former Ocean City Beach Patrol member Mike Vaules are helping to organize the new event.

"We love this country and made a choice not to sit on the sidelines any more," Chad Gallagher said in the news conference on Friday.

The events are as follows:

• Stand Up Paddle Ocean Challenge: The race takes place on a box course off Fourth Street Beach with four relay team members each completing two legs or individuals completing eight legs. Each leg starts and finishes on the beach and covers a total distance of about a mile. The race includes age brackets and board categories.
• Obstacle Course Challenge: An approximately two-mile beach run will begin and end at Fourth Street Beach with a turning point at 14th Street. In between will be five obstacles that will remain secret until the night before the race. The race website lists sample obstacles (Army crawls, log-carrying and even riddle-solving). "There will be mental challenges that will slow down the pure athletes," Kristen Gallagher said. Teams or "lone warriors" can compete.
• Kids Fun Run: Kids will start at Fourth Street Beach and run north to St. Charles Place and back, meeting some safe obstacles along the way. Age brackets include 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12.

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For more information on the races and event, and to register, sponsor or volunteer, visit: standup4seals.com.
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Amy Bill Kutney, sister of Navy Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Brian Robert Bill, had been scheduled to attend the announcement on Friday but was unable to make the trip after being at the Boston Marathon during the bombings.

Bill and 30 others were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011.

The 31 Heroes Project is named for the fallen SEALS. That project and the similar Navy SEAL Foundation are the beneficiaries of the Memorial Day Weekend event.

"Ninety-five cents of every dollar goes to the families," Vaules said. "We still need sponsorship support. We're asking everybody to volunteer, donate or just show up."

The event will conclude with a patriot ceremony with the paddleboard race winner laying a ceremonial wreath to honor fallen members of military service.