Salute the Troops

Join us for our 14th Annual Salute the Troops Memorial Races! The 2025 races will feature 3 timed events: a 10K run, 5K run/walk and a kids ‘fun run’ for children 12 and under as well as 2 non timed events: a 10K Ruck March, 5K Ruck March. Our course is wheelchair friendly and has 3 award divisions for wheeled participants for both the 10K and the 5K courses as we follow the prairie trail through and around Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac. This annual running event helps raise money for Salute the Troops of Wisconsin and NAMI. All proceeds stay local and are used to help Wisconsin Veterans and suicide prevention. Oven Island is our command central. Day of registration and all of the kids’ activities and games are on Oven Island. The Kid's Fun Run is a way to get children excited about a healthy lifestyle and to participate in an event that they will be able to do through the ages. The Dobogai Memorial 5K Run/Walk is in memory of Derek Dobagi. Derek was a law enforcement and justice administration major at Western Illinois University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2003. He received an active duty commission in 2003 as a second lieutenant in the United States Army through the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He then attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. That year he was named Lietutenant of the Year for the 25th Infantry Division. Derek was deployed to Iraq and served as the Brigade Scout Platoon Leader. On 22 August 2007, Derek and his ten-man scout team were returning to FOB Warrior after a successful mission. The Army Blackhawk helicopter - call sign "Jenna" -- they were flying in crashed. Derek, his scouts, and the four-man Blackhawk crew were killed. Since 2009, Derek's family has been honoring his memory and the memories of his comrades with a Memorial 5K Race in Fond du Lac.