ARLINGTON, Va. -- Every race has a winner, and of course every race also has a person who finishes
last. Cynthia Gregory was the last place finisher at the 40th Marine Corps
Marathon hosted in Washington and Arlington, Virginia, Oct. 25,
2015.
Like every other runner who finished the 26.2-mile race, Gregory
received a ruby medal signifying she completed the race. Additionally, she was
given the Penguin Award, an honor given to the final finisher of the marathon
for their efforts for not quitting no matter what their time would
be.
The Penguin Award first made its unofficial appearance at the Marine
Corps Marathon Forward in Iraq in 2006. Maj. Megan McClung, the lead organizer
for MCM Forward, got the idea of the award from a blogger who she followed. The
blogger, John Bingham, wrote that he loved to run but would never win a race
because he was slow, so he would call himself “The Penguin.”
“He really
inspired [Meg],” said Re McClung, Megan’s mother. “So she asked for a penguin
that she could give to the last official finisher.”
John Bingham had the
same life metaphor as Megan McClung; it’s not important how fast you run it,
it’s that you get to the goal, and you cross the finish line.
Two months
after the MCM Forward in December 2006, Megan was killed in action when an
improvised explosive device struck her Humvee while she was traveling through
downtown Ramadi, Iraq.
Rick Nealis, the director of MCM, contacted the
McClung family in 2007 and asked if they would come to the marathon and present
a penguin to the last official runner.
“[Megan’s father] and I were so
honored to do that, and we’ve been doing it for eight years,” Re said. “So, as
long as the McClung family is around and there are any of us to do it, we will
be here to give the penguin to that last runner.”
Re keeps several
penguins in her closet in preparation for the upcoming marathons.
“It’s a
piece of Megan’s legacy, and to have it hooked to the Marine Corps Marathon when
she loved the Marine Corps so much, I can’t think of a better tribute to her,”
Re said. “And I hope that it keeps being a motivator for the runners for years
to come.”