Residents gathered Saturday to participate in the second Ruck for A Soldier’s Heart event at the track near the Joe Creason Community Building at H.H. Lovett Park in Benton. The day’s events began with a kids ruck, in which children engaged in physical activities and went on a mini-ruck at the track with their packs.
Adults carried on thereafter, taking a six-mile ruck through the streets of Benton and stopping at stations for physical training activities along the way. Participants kicked off the ruck with PT at the field, where they performed eight-count body builders, “hops” or jumping jacks, situps, pushups, low-crawl, high crawl, carry activities and equipment carry drills. Participants earned a patch for completing the event and joined in for a barbecue dinner at the end of the day. All proceeds went to benefit A Soldier’s Heart Bluegrass and Muddy Waters, a nonprofit organization that works to take veterans suffering from PTSD on outdoor excursions as a form of therapy. Money from this year’s event will go to retrofit kayaks to allow disabled veterans to use them.
For more information about A Soldier’s Heart, visit the group here.
