FORT SMITH -- Local entities are organizing the inaugural Fort Smith General Darby Challenge to honor Gen. William O. Darby and Fort Smith's twin cities -- Cisterna and Nago-Torbole, Italy.
The Fort Smith Museum of History, the new Darby House organization and the city of Fort Smith are organizing the event, scheduled for April 28 starting at Cisterna Park in downtown Fort Smith at 7 a.m. Participants are invited to walk or run the half marathon with or without a weighted backpack the military uses in an exercise called rucking.
A press release from the organizations states the challenge is a tribute to Darby, a Fort Smith native who died in combat on April 30, 1945, in Nago-Torbole, Italy. It is unsanctioned but timed and is open to those on direct military orders, active or retired military and civilians alike, according to the release.
The city organized a sister city relationship with Nago-Torbole last April due to their shared relationship with Darby. The city also established a sister city relationship with Cisterna several years ago because Darby led the Army Rangers to liberate the city during World War II.
Caroline Speir, executive director of the Fort Smith Museum of History, said Nago-Torbole has had a Darby 40 Mile Ranger Challenge for several years now around the anniversary of his death, so the organizations decided to create one in Fort Smith to honor Darby and the relationships with the sister cities.
"It's really to bring awareness to who he was and to further celebrate that history and heritage that we have," she said.
The press release states the challenge will start at the Darby statue in Cisterna Park at 1001 Garrison Ave., follow A Street to the Greg Smith River Trail, turn north and continue along the riverfront to Fort Smith Park. The return route retraces the trail, leading back to the statue.
The event costs $50. Those interested may register at runsignup.com/Race/AR/FortSmith/DarbyChallenge.
A one-mile Darby Ranger Mile Fun Run & Walk is planned for 10 a.m. April 27 at the head of the Greg Smith River Trail at Riverfront Park, 121 Riverfront Drive, for those unable to do the larger challenge. The press release said all proceeds from the event will benefit the Museum of History and the Darby House organization.
The Darby House is General Darby's childhood home, located at 311 General Darby St., and now serves as a heritage museum containing personal military memorabilia of Darby, other WWII memorabilia and artifacts from Cisterna, Italy.
"We actually have quite a bit of documents and images, and we get rangers from across the U.S. that want to see more about Fort Smith and who he was and where he was from," Speir said.
The Darby 40 Mile Ranger Challenge Facebook page announced last month the event in Nago-Torbole has not been officially scheduled but is tentatively set for April 26 -- a Friday -- to allow participating soldiers time to recover before returning to duty the following Monday. It said the 40-mile trip will take participants from Peschiera to Torbole, Italy.
The page says Fort Smith Mayor George McGill and city directors were invited to the event last year. It said they are aware of the new event and are proud to be the first to start it.
Fort Smith has a handful of annual races in the city, including the River Valley Run and the Fort Smith Marathon.