 | | | Photo Andy Scheck | | | | | | Most people don't think of Thanksgiving as a day to don running shoes and slap a bib number on your chest, but that wasn't the case for 562 people, ranging in age from the very young being pushed in strollers to dedicated athletes in their 80s who took to the course Nov. 23 at the Moraga Country Club as part of the first annual Turkey Trot.
Event brainchild, and MCC general manager/COO Ron Haas was delighted with the turnout.
"It is hard to believe that this was our first turkey trot in Moraga," Haas wrote in an email to volunteers. "We had participants (two and four legged) from infants to age 83 run/walk our beautiful course. We saw families having fun and smiling ear to ear."
The course consisted of a fun 1.5K trot to a more serious 5K run on the Moraga Country Club grounds. The top three winners of the male 11-20 5K race each hailed from a different Lamorinda city: First place went to 19-year-old Niki Moore of Lafayette, with a time of 16: 24.3; second place went to 20-year-old Ryan McDermott of Orinda (17:16.8); and third went to 18-year-old Kyle Flett of Moraga (17:18.5). Allison Whipple, 16, of Orinda, took first in the female 11-20 age 5K race with a time of 22:54.1 and John Hamilton, age 83 of Moraga, took first in the male 66 and over 5K with 30:31.3. Other Lamorinda first-place 5K winners included Jon Chambers, Eytan Brosh, Anne Willcoxon, Leslie Piper and Rebecca Tanner.
Volunteers worked tirelessly to pull the event together. In addition to Moraga Chief of Police Jon King, the Moraga PD, Moraga-Orinda Fire District, Stephanie Caronna from the Food Bank and "our wonderful Mayor Teresa Onoda," Haas thanked those who showed up at the wee hours of the morning to help, as well as event sponsors, the Moraga Chamber of Commerce, Quick Dispense, and A Runners Mind. "Also, thank you to Aaron Ford from Ford Timing who helped make sure registration and time keeping was simple and smooth," he wrote. "I think this event is here to stay."
The event raised over $5,000 for the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.
- J. Wake
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA