Suit up this Saturday to test your mettle in Laramie’s third annual COMBAT Color run, where runners and spectators both will need a stern constitution.
“It’s a color run where you get to throw the color back, so it’s a little bit of a twist,” President of Students Supporting Veterans Robert Cloud said. “All the proceeds go to benefit the Connor Cloud scholarship for veterans, which is the only general veterans’ scholarship on campus. Currently we have $11,000 in our foundation scholarship account.”
The color run, primarily sponsored by the University of Wyoming Engineering Fund for Enrichment, starts rolling at 11 a.m. tomorrow, April 21, at Optimist Park in Laramie—though the run itself may take a short time to begin after on-the-spot registrations are complete. More than 150 runners are currently registered, and anyone can register until the running (and throwing) starts.
Registration packets are $20 for students and children (who can also run for free without) and $30 for adults, including a white T-shirt, sunglasses and a bag of colorful, powdery ammo. Last minute registrations may not have the correct shirt size, but participants can certainly wear their own.
While this is COMBAT Color’s third year in Laramie, Sheridan will also be the site of a similar fundraiser for its fifth year. Cloud began the event while attending Sheridan College following his own military service.
“I started college in Sheridan when I was still living at the VA,” Cloud said. “I had received help and decided I needed to give help back to others. Overall, for the Wounded Warrior project and for veterans in Wyoming, we’ve raised over $40,000 between the two runs over the last five years. “
Cloud joined the Marine Corps in 2001 and his service took him to Iraq, Africa and Israel. After leaving in 2008, Cloud said he “had some hard times” before starting school in Sheridan and transferring to UW, where he is now a doctoral student in electrical engineering.
“I’ve been very successful and I feel I need to give back because of such,” Cloud said.
As president of the Student Supporting Veterans RSO, Cloud works to raise funds and awareness for veterans in Laramie and throughout Wyoming, with some ties to UW’s Veterans Services Center.
“The VSC provides services for students, whereas we provide the social outlet,” Cloud said. “Not only the social outlet, but an opportunity for students to get involved in with events such as COMBAT Color—we also help with Toys for Tots, for the past few years.”
Marty Martinez, senior project coordinator for the VSC, sees great value in the work done through COMBAT Color.
“I think it’s awesome that it’s our student veterans that bond together every year to put this run on, to make the money for it—so they can help fellow veterans and dependents make it through college here,” Martinez said. “Anything that we do in this community, especially, garnered around a veteran cause gains a lot of attention in Laramie, it’s a wonderful community to be a veteran in.”
