Oceanside CA— The weather was perfect for those moving their feet before they ate at the 11th annual Pacific Marine Credit Union, O’side Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.
Okwaro Raura was the overall winner in the 10k with a time of 33:12, two minutes and 50 seconds faster than his closest competitor, AJ Freund. “I suffered an injury six months ago and had to take two months off from running,” said Raura, “I felt good and everything fell into place today. I wanted to run the course in 32 minutes and get ready for the Carlsbad Half Marathon. It was great to have my family here to see me finish.” Joshua Cruz, Kevin Sorrell and James Bell round out the top five for the overall in the 10k.
Meriah Earle of Escondido took the top spot for the women with a time of 37:41. She was followed by Kimberly Hicks, Gisselle Rivera, Asia Sorenson andGwendolyn Pavlick.
In the 5k, it was Ricardo Kaempofen, from Fort Collins, CO, who took the overall top spot with a time of 15:28. Ricardo is here visiting his family for Thanksgiving. My dad works for Genentech and I wanted to help fundraise while I am here.” said Ricardo who is on the Cross Country team at Colorado State University. “The season just ended and I had lots of miles in ahead of the race today.” Kaempofen was followed by Florian Scheulen, Daniel Seidel, Cody Drisko and Bryson King.
Lindsey Drake, of Carlsbad, was again the top female finisher with a time of 17:13. She was followed by Cortney Berling, Alisia Barajas and Isabella Prosceno.