Nearly 2,800 Complete the 11th Annual Conejo Valley YMCA Turkey Day Dash

The 11th Annual Conejo Valley YMCA Turkey Day Dash 5K took place on Thursday in frosty cool early morning temperatures under mostly blue skies at Cal Lutheran.

There were 2,784 finishers in the race, with times ranging from 15:29 to 1:16:21. I was not there but I managed to get in a 45 minute run on Thanksgiving morning.

The overall winner was 20 year old Joel Gonzalez Jr, who sped to a 15:29 time, faster than any time I've ever run a 5K in, at an average speed of 4:59 per mile. Joel was 31 seconds faster than 2nd place finishers, 26 year old Matan Mayer, who tied  with 16 year old Thomas Schauerman, in 16 minutes flat. That's actually the first time I can recall ever seeing a tie in a local 5K race results.

The top 40+ male runner was 45 year old Jeff Wells, finishing 14th overall in 17:10.

The top three overall women in the race were Jessica Barnard (25) in 18:22, followed by Maddie Geesen (17) in 18:42, then Madelyn Vorgitch (19) in 19:49.  Eleven year old Sydney Covington of Thousand Oaks had an impressive showing, running a 20:04 for 5th female and 77th overall.

The oldest runner in the entire race was 87 year old Jean Gosse of Thousand Oaks, who managed a 46:17 time. Youngster Donna Vetricek, 78, finished in 26:14, a 8:26/mile pace, good for 470th overall and in the top 10% of all females. That's a pretty damn respectable time!

The oldest male runner was 82 year young Donald Moors, finishing in 39:53 for 1664th overall, leaving over a thousand young whippersnappers in his dust.