First Lt. Mike Koepke of the 56th Operations Support Squadron at Luke Air Force Base is, like many of his compatriots, a fitness enthusiast.
Koepke also cares about the community and doing his part to help out, which is why he braved Friday’s frigid morning temperatures to get up before dawn and compete for a good cause.
“We always try to give back to the community as much as possible,” he said. “Most all of our fitness challenges raise money for something.”
In this case the event was Fit-2-Fight, a competition now in its sixth year at Luke. A Luke family in need is chosen to be the beneficiary and those who want to participate in the competition are asked to donate food and gifts.
Sherri Biringer, fitness specialist supervisor at Luke, oversees Fit-2-Fight and other events like it throughout the year.
“Last year, we collected two truckloads of food and gifts for the family,” she said. “And this year should do well, too, because we opened it up to people who didn’t want to compete but still wanted to donate to the family.”
Biringer said there are always plenty of people like Koepke who are happy to participate, both as a way to give back and out of hunger for competition with their peers.
“We do events like this in May and September that are just brutal,” Biringer said. “This one, you know, it’s Christmas time so we try to keep it fun. This one is a little more relaxed.”
The competition itself is a multi-part event with a Christmas twist: sled pulls, delivering gifts (medicine balls), carrying sacks of coal (bags of charcoal), and more. Teams of four participants competed throughout the morning, with the course set up at the commissary, their times logged and a winner chosen.
Staff Sgt. Michelle Stauffer, with the 308th Fighter Squadron, said she is a fitness buff and, like Koepke, is always looking for challenges.
“I’m big into Crossfit,” she said. “I heard this event was about giving food to people for Christmas, and I just wanted to give back.”
• Jeff Dempsey may be reached at 623-876-2531 or jdempsey@yourwestvalley.com[1] .
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