Ice Breaker is a homecoming for Great Falls Marine

When Robert Foster was in high school at C.M. Russell High, he wasn’t allowed to run cross country.

“My hair was too long. Coach (Branch) Brady had strict rules on grooming and I was a little stubborn,” he said with a laugh. “But the Marine Corps took care of that stubbornness.”

Foster, a Marine master sergeant whose career has taken him all over the world, is glad to be back home on leave this weekend. It’s the first time in 10 years he’s been back to Great Falls to see his parents, John and Young-Cha.

The 38th annual Ice Breaker Road Race is a bonus.

“I’ve run several marathons, but the Ice Breaker has always been my favorite,” he said. “I was able to match my schedule so I could make the race.”

Foster recently finished up some training in Virginia. Later this week he’s headed back to Okinawa, Japan, where for the last four years he’s served as Operations Chief and Senior Enlisted Leader to the Marines’ Jungle Warfare Training Center.

The 1995 CMR graduate has served 12 of his 22 years in the Marines overseas, including combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He enjoys his current post in Okinawa.

“It’s a good job,” he said. “It keeps me on my toes.”

What exactly does he do for the Marines at the training center?

“The intent is to increase their survivability and lethality, to teach tactical-level warfare in a jungle environment,” Foster said. “The Marines have fought in the jungle 70 percent of the time in all wars. You can’t ignore the importance and relevance of this training.”

Physical fitness training is also important to Foster. But he doesn’t predict victory today when he competes in the Ice Breaker’s featured five-mile race.

“I’ll probably be sucking wind,” he laughed. “I’ve been living at sea level for a long time and the altitude will probably get me. I’ll just be competing against myself.”

No matter. He’s just glad to be home.

“The Ice Breaker is an amazing race,” Foster said. “The first time I ran it I was 12, and I ran it every year after that, I believe, until I graduated.”

Even during the years when his CMR cross country coach deemed his locks too long to run for the Rustlers?

Foster laughed again.

“Yes,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for Mr. Brady. He was a very good coach.”

And Sunday will be a very good day for Master Sergeant Foster.

“It certainly will,” Foster said. “I’m very, very much looking forward to it.”

NOTES: Registration for the Ice Breaker continues on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Civic Center Convention Center. The first race of the day, the featured five-miler that offers $1,500 prizes for the first male and female finishers, starts at 1 p.m. The three-miler is slated to start at 2 p.m., followed at 1 p.m. by a one-mile fun-run. All races begin in front of the Civic Center in downtown Great Falls and end in Gibson Park. The awards ceremony at the Civic Center is slated for 4 p.m. Last year, a total of 3,004 people registered for the Ice Breaker. Only six times since 1988 have less than 3,000 competed in the event. Record turnout was in 1991, when 5,623 ran through the streets of Great Falls. Look for a special results section in Monday’s Great Falls Tribune.