Oceanside CA— 10,000 plus runners will take part in the 2014 Pacific Marine Credit Union O’side Turkey Trot, on Thursday. Participants are urged to use the Breeze and Sprinter to get to the event. People that haven’t been downtown in a while need to remember Mission Avenue is now a one-way street, westbound between Horne and Coast Highway and Seagaze Drive, one-way eastbound between Coast Highway and Clementine.

Fast Facts:

• Number of Registered Participants: 5-Mile: 2,000; 5-K: 6,600; Kids Run: 1,400; Total: 10,000
• Number of States and cities represented: 47 states and 460 cites
• Number of Teams: 133
• Largest Team: Team Austin Bice with over 500
• Number of Schools/Charities Benefited: 141
• 5-Mile Run: Men – Lukas Verzbicas 25:16 (2013); Women Claire Rethmeier 28:49 (2011)
• 5K Run: Men – David Edwards 14:37 (2011); Women – Claire Rethmeier 16:33 (2012)

2014 O’side Turkey Trot Teams and Participants to follow

Oceanside’s Libby Lake Elementary School 5th graders: Bryan Steele, a 5th grade teacher at Libby, former US Marine/drill instructor and runner with eight marathon finishes under his belt is leading the charge to get his 5th-grade students moving. Steele motivates 105 students to run and/or walk for 15 minutes, four times a week by singing marine-esque songs and encouraging them through his own participation and an incentive-drive Mileage Club. An initiative of the school’s Healthy Habits program, the goal is to get the students to run a mile in 15 minutes by the end of the school year. Steele, an Oceanside resident, is hoping that they build up enough endurance to run the O’side Turkey Trot. He expects about 15 students to participate in the Trot.
Carlsbad’s Team Austin Bice: The members of Team Austin Bice are running in memory of Austin Bice, a 22-year-old senior at San Diego State who went to Madrid, Spain to study international business in January of 2011, and was found dead in the city’s Manzaneres River. Austin was a participant in the PMCU O’side Turkey Trot and loved the race. Last year Team Austin Bice had the most team members in the event – 514 and raised more than $5,000 for the fund through the Trot. This year they are also leading, by far. Parents Larry and Pam Bice live in Carlsbad.
See more teams here—http://www.osideturkeytrot.com/teams.html
Oceanside’s Mike Casper: It was Oct. 28, 2013, when Mike found himself in the ER with a major heart vessel that was 70% blocked. “My demise was imminent, about 30 minutes.” Two years ago he watched his daughter run the O’side Turkey Trot. Last year he watched his wife and daughter run the race. His daughter, who was a cross-country runner at El Camino HS, challenged him to run in the event with her this year. He accepted her challenge and, to prepare, runs a Turkey Trot (5K) distance six days per week. Mike, 55, wants to show his daughter and doctor at Tri-City, just how thankful he is for their support. He now has three stents but is thankful for so much.
Vista ninth-grader Andrew Seelhoff: Andrew will participate in the Trot, his first 5K since having much of his right leg amputated in June Seelhoff had suffered with a painful condition called a vascular malformation in his right leg. He spent much of his time in a wheelchair, in constant pain. Finally, in April, he made a decision to have the diseased portion of his leg amputated. The operation was done in June and by July, Seelhoff was speaking to youth groups and raising money for the Challenge Athletes Foundation (CAF), which he credits with helping him decide to have his leg amputated and now has helped him with a prosthetic leg.

Click on map to enlarge or download
Below is a list of closures and a schedule of events.
Race Schedule: Thursday, November 27, 2014
6:00 AM – Registration Opens

Road Closures

5:00 AM until 9:30 AM: South Coast Hwy. between Mission and Sportfisher
Please detour N/B & S/B using Ditmar or Cleveland
6:00 AM until 9:30 AM: South Coast Hwy. between Oceanside Blvd. and Sportfisher: Please detour N/B & S/B using Ditmar or Cleveland.
6:30 AM until 9:30 AM: Mission from Horne to Pacific Street:
Eastbound and westbound drivers use Surfrider or Oceanside Blvd.
6:30 AM until 11:15 AM: Pacific Street from Civic Center Drive to Wisconsin:
Traffic north of Civic Center Drive use Surfrider Way.
Traffic south of Tyson and north of Wisconsin, Please use S/B Myers from 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.
For residents north of Tyson and south of Mission. There will be a coned lane for exiting only.
6:30 AM until11:15 AM: Wisconsin westbound from Myers to the Strand will be closed. Eastbound Wisconsin will be open for residents.
6:30 AM until 11:30 AM: Strand Access will be from Myers to Seagaze to the Strand. Expect delays at Seagaze and Pacific. N/B Southbound Strand will remain open, but there will be monitors at Wisconsin to exit. Please plan to exit before 8 AM or after 11:30 AM if possible. The strand will be filled with runners and walkers from 8:30–11:30 AM.
7:00 AM until 8:00 AM: Southbound I-5 at CA-76 exit closed.
7:00 AM until 8:00 AM
Southbound Coast Hwy. between Sportfisher and Monterey Dr.
Northbound lanes will remain open but could have 25 minute delays. We recommend residents west of PCH please detour Southbound via Cleveland.
7:15 AM until 8:00 AM
– Harbor Area; Westbound Monterey Dr/San Luis Rey Dr/Riverside Dr: will be closed. Please enter or exit before 7:15 AM or after 8 AM to avoid delays. Monitors will direct traffic through eastbound lanes and in/out of businesses.
Westbound S. Harbor Drive to Pacific St.: will be closed. Monitors will direct traffic through eastbound lane and in/out of businesses.
Southbound Pacific St. to Breakwater Way: will be closed. Please enter or exit before 7:15 AM or after 8 AM. Monitors will direct traffic through northbound lane and in/out of businesses.