Air Force Master Sgt. Cecilio RicardoNavy ROTC Cadet Daniel McGourty is an officer candidate at Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at Norfolk, Va. He and three other teammates were one of 54 teams.

FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. – For the son of a Wallowa couple, the competition was a strenuous test of endurance, teamwork and skill that took him, and 215 other men and women representing all military services and the U.S. Coast Guard, through more than 50 miles of rugged West Virginia mountains and white-water rapids.

Navy ROTC Cadet Daniel McGourty, son of Ron and Celene Gay, Wallowa, was one of those service members who traveled to this remote resort area to test his skills in a five-event outdoor competition called “Wilderness Challenge.”

Over a two-day period, competitors mountain-biked over a 13-mile uphill course, paddled seven-miles in a two-person combination kayak, canoe and raft called a “duckie”, ran an eight-kilometer (five mile) mountain trail, hiked 15-miles and raced whitewater rafts over 10 miles of rapids.

McGourty was part of a Navy team from Norfolk, Va., one of 54 teams to compete in this year’s challenge.

“I thought it sounded fun and challenging,” said McGourty, an officer candidate at Hampton Roads Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. “So I decided to sign up.”

Wilderness Challenge represents mostly physical challenges, but forces teams to work together. Each team was required to pass certain checkpoints together, some tying themselves together with bungee cords, and others circling back to the slowest person to make sure they finished together.

The competition, coordinated by the Navy Mid-Atlantic Region, Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown for the last nine years, is a little different each year. However, while the distances and routes change, core events have remained in place giving teams an idea of what to train for. Some trained together before arriving and others chose their own training regimens.

“I did a lot of running and mountain biking to get ready for the competition,” said McGourty.

Fighting cold, wet elements, uphill runs, walks and bicycling, and racing river currents, the competitors and teams highlighted their strong points and shored up their weaknesses to become competitive during the race.

“I ran into a few problems with the ‘duckie’ event,” said McGourty. “The boats can be really hard to steer.”

McGourty and the other competitors in Wilderness Challenge received a special event coin commemorating the competition and walked away with the knowledge they put their endurance and willpower to the test.