The Norwegian Run, a course compiled of 18.6 miles, gave students and soldiers a chance to test their endurance Saturday.

The run was sponsored by Nils Johnansen, a retired utility officer from Norway, who received permission from his regiment to host the activity on campus.

“We did the road march in Alaska, and when the ROTC department came here, we thought it’d be a cool thing to do here,” Johansen said. “It’s not a super iron man thing to do, but it is enough of a challenge that any soldier can do it.”

The  first foot march included 15 to 20 people, he said.

“For males, you have to do it in four and a half hours or less, but there are different times for age and gender,” he said. “Either you want to finish and get the medal, or you want to do it as an athletic event and have the bragging rights.”

It’s pretty exceptional, he said.

Chris Dalrymple, military science instructor and USI graduate, has participated in the foot march since he was an undergraduate, and hosted the event for the past two years.

“The event was outstanding, but the weather didn’t cooperate like it was supposed to,” Dalrymple said. “Unfortunately, the first half it rained on them, which added another level of difficulty in completing the task.”

Due to the weather conditions, participants were dealing with injuries while trying to finish the race.

“When the feet get wet they have a tendency to slide in the boots, causing more friction points,” Dalrymple said. “We did see some pretty nasty blisters on the feet this year, but those people toughed it out until the end.”

This year the event had more than 500 participants, and only a few people didn’t complete the task, he said.

“We had a large number of people that pushed all the way through,” Dalrymple said.

Along with USI student soldiers that participated, there were also several non-military student participants.

“We actually had 10 to 15 percent of everybody that participated were non-military,” he said. “So as the event grows, we hope more people would be interested in competing in the Norwegian foot march.”

Kellar Walsh, senior company commander, helped register individuals and has for the past four years.

“The run went really well,” Walsh said. “We’ve also had a lot more people complete this year than I’ve seen in the past.”

The course is tough, and it’s not something people can come out and try for fun, he said.