Photo gallery: http://www.palmer.edu/gallery/turkeytrot_2010/index.html
For the second year in
a row, Palmer College played a major part in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot.
Despite record-setting low temperatures in San Jose on Thanksgiving morning, the
Turkey Trot still enjoyed a record-setting day for registrant numbers (14,500)
and fund-raising (more than $416,000 for three Santa Clara County charities).
Produced by the Silicon
Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), whose membership includes more than 300 of the
region’s most prominent companies including Palmer College, the Turkey Trot
debuted in 2005 with approximately 2,000 participants. It has since evolved into
an event that brings together South Bay businesses and residents, and has
established itself as a prominent Thanksgiving Day tradition.
The West Campus
successfully defended its title as one of the five “Fittest Firms” in Silicon
Valley by having the greatest number of Turkey Trot registrants in the small
company division (50-100 employees).
The Palmer Spine did not formally participate in the
costume contest this year, but the block-long stretch of 25 segments walking the
5K course through the streets of downtown San Jose once again provided “the
backbone of the Turkey Trot.”
The West Campus Sports Council also returned as the
event’s primary sports care team and provided pre- and post-race care for
walkers and runners.
“Palmer’s co-sponsorship of the SVLG’s annual Turkey
Trot has turned into a wonderful relationship with the powerful business
community of Silicon Valley, and San Jose,” said West Campus President Dr. Bill
Meeker, who accompanied the Palmer Spine from start to finish for the second
year in a row. “It really is a great event. We always obtain top billing because
of our eye-catching Spine, and our Sports Council tent is always filled with
grateful athletes during and after the race.”
"We thoroughly enjoyed working with Palmer College
again this year, and we appreciate their support of the Turkey Trot as one of
our event co-sponsors,” said Carl Guardino, SVLG president. “The Palmer Spine
definitely gets a lot of attention as it makes its way along the course and has
become a Turkey Trot tradition. It's great to have an organization like the
Palmer Sports Council providing care for our walkers and runners before and
after the event."
Members of the Palmer Spine team included: Dr. Pauline
Anderson (Clinic, ’90 West alumna), Rachael Awbry (Student Services), Beth Anne
Baretich, Justin Brame, Brad Corlett, Nick Cruze, Lisa Davis (President’s
Office), Amanda Dluzniewski, Danielle Fratellone, Johanna Gan, Baljinder Gill,
Kim Huddleston, Kim Huynh, Jason Hooyman, Stephanie Johnson, Jason Kim, Kim
Kerch, Mike Larson, Dang Le, Raheel Mann, Deb Marin, Carolyn O’Meara, Walter Su,
Missy Tashiro, Birgitte Thomsen, Dr. Randy Waters (Clinic), and Quinn Will.
West Campus faculty
member (and ’97 alumnus) Dr. Jonathan Slater ran in the 10K race, finishing
second in his age group (40-44), and 21st overall (out of 4,170 registered
runners in the 10K event), with a personal best time of 37:11.
West Campus 12Q intern
JP Amonte ran in the 5K race, finishing second in his age group (30-34) and 31st
overall (out of 7,131 registered runners in the 5K race), with a time of
19:37.
The Spine is
featured in a photo gallery that accompanied the Turkey Trot recap posted on the
San Jose Mercury News web page: http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/render_gallery.jsp?articleId=16711988&siteId=568&startImage=4