San Jose Turkey Trot draws thousands

SAN JOSE — The 20th annual Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot had a record 23,000 people registered to take part in the 5K/10K run, held Thursday morning.

The event supports four nonprofit organizations: The Health Trust, the Healthier Kids Foundation, Second Harvest Silicon Valley and Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Cruz County.

Kim Fennell, board chair of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation, thanked all the runners for coming out on Thanksgiving morning to take part in “the very best and the largest Turkey Trot on the freakin’ planet.

“I am super excited to be celebrating our 20th anniversary here today,” he said to the crowd. “We have donated over $12 million over these 20 years, and we couldn’t do it without all of you.”

With the milestone anniversary, there was a lot of gratitude extended toward race founders Carl and Leslee Guardino.

Carl Guardino, founder of the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot speaks before the race on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024, in downtown San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) 

“What a beautiful vision 20 years ago, and what an incredible legacy for our community,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who was on stage along with Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Ahmad Thomas, Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein, Santa Clara County Supervisor-elect Betty Duong, San Jose State University President Cynthia Teniente-Matson and Lisa Gauthier, an East Palo Alto councilmember who just won a seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

As is tradition, there were lots of costumes among the sea of blue race shirts this year, with some staying warm on a chilly Thanksgiving morning by dressing in full-body turkey suits.

Scarlet Rose, a preschool teacher from San Jose, won the holiday theme costume contest with her handmade turkey outfit – complete with tail feathers – while her son came as a slice of pumpkin pie.

Olivia Clima and mom Debbie Clima went in a different culinary direction to win the non-holiday division by dressing as a churro and cup of Dole whip.

Ero Doce of Turlock came in first in the Elite 5K division, finishing the 3.1-mile distance in 13 minutes, 59 seconds – a new record for the race. The top women’s finisher was Rayna Stanziano of Concord, who finished in 16 minutes, 13 seconds. The top men’s and women’s 10K finishers were Benthan Vu of San Jose in 31 minutes, 39 seconds and Joanna Reyes of Santa Clara in 34 minutes, 59 seconds.