TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
TaekwonâGeremyâ - The Spectrum Magazine - Redwood City's ...
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Be a Part of the “Stampede” and<br />
Help Local Sports Programs<br />
By Julie McCoy, contributing writer<br />
If you live in or near <strong>Redwood</strong> City, you won’t want to miss this year’s<br />
Sequoia Stampede, a 5K run/walk in which families, neighbors, students,<br />
athletes and businesses come together to raise money for Sequoia High<br />
School’s athletic programs.<br />
To be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 13, the Stampede takes place in the<br />
neighborhood around the Sequoia High School.<br />
<strong>The</strong> terrain is suitable for people of all ages and abilities, emphasized<br />
Gordon Bliss, owner of Mobius Fit health club on Woodside Road in<br />
<strong>Redwood</strong> City, who has organized the event for the past three years.<br />
Children as young as 5 have been able to walk alongside their parents, and<br />
children who are even younger have been able to participate in the event in<br />
strollers, Bliss noted.<br />
“It’s fairly flat,” he said. “<strong>The</strong>re are two little hills. People do it all the time.<br />
It’s really cool.”<br />
Seven hundred people participated in the Stampede last year, and the goal<br />
this year is to attract 800 to 850 people, according to Bliss.<br />
“It’s a great community event,” commented Sequoia High School Principal<br />
Bonnie Hansen. “A lot of people from the local community participate. A<br />
lot of people come out and watch people run. In addition to being a nice<br />
fundraiser, it’s a nice community builder.”<br />
It costs $5,000 to put on the Stampede, according to Bliss. Last year,<br />
the Stampede raised $30,000 after expenses. <strong>The</strong> goal this year is to raise<br />
$35,000 after expenses.<br />
<strong>The</strong> money will go toward Sequoia Sports Boosters, a parent organization<br />
that raises money to bridge the gap between what Sequoia’s athletic<br />
program receives from the school district and what it needs to be strong and<br />
successful. Sequoia Sports Boosters will then give the money to Sequoia<br />
High School to use for its athletic programs.<br />
<strong>The</strong> funding will pay for such things as uniforms and equipment for<br />
student athletes, and their transportation to and from events. <strong>The</strong> school<br />
district typically starts to run out of money for transportation during the<br />
second half of the school year, according to Bliss. “We’re picking up where<br />
the district can no longer do it,” he explained.<br />
Without the funding it receives from the Stampede, Sequoia’s athletic<br />
department would be compromised, Hansen emphasized.<br />
“It’s huge,” she said. “I don’t know what we would do without it and just<br />
the work of the [Sequoia Sports] Boosters in general … We would not be able<br />
to run the athletic program we have been able to run.”<br />
Bliss begins planning for the Stampede in November and puts in 150 hours<br />
of work prior to the event. He is there as early as 3:30 a.m. the day of the event.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are about 60 volunteers at the Stampede, who work a minimum of<br />
four hours. Some volunteers work up to eight or nine hours.<br />
“It is a community-involved event,” Bliss noted. “That is one of the things<br />
that is most fun about it.”<br />
Everyone who participates in the Stampede receives a T-shirt.<br />
You can tie an electronic chip on your shoes that will let you know when<br />
you started, when you finished and the amount of time it took you to complete<br />
the course. If you are on Facebook, the device will also post a message on<br />
your Facebook page to let others know that you finished the event.<br />
One new feature of the Stampede this year is that the event will have food<br />
trucks, with food and concessions, Bliss noted.<br />
Additionally, the Stampede is partnering with Ford Motor Co., which will<br />
bring 10 Ford cars.<br />
For every person who test-drives a car, Ford will contribute $20 to the<br />
Stampede’s fundraising efforts, up to $6,000, Bliss explained. “<strong>The</strong>y’re [Ford<br />
is] doing most of the work,” Bliss explained. “We’re excited. We haven’t done<br />
this one before, but it sounds exciting to us.”<br />
Also new this year, Shoe Rafiki, an organization at Sequoia High School<br />
that collects new and gently used shoes and sends them to Third World<br />
countries, will have a booth with a donation box. <strong>The</strong> American Cancer<br />
Society also will have booth with a donation box.<br />
How did the Sequoia Stampede get started?<br />
A few years ago, Bliss saw that an event called the Big Bear Run was<br />
successful in raising money for Menlo-Atherton High School athletics. He<br />
suggested to Sequoia Sports Boosters, of which he is a member, that a similar<br />
event be implemented at Sequoia High School. “<strong>The</strong>y were successful with it.<br />
I thought, why not reinvent the wheel,” he said.<br />
And thus, in 2011, the Stampede was born.<br />
Bliss’ twin 18-year-old daughters, Alyssa and Alex, are seniors at Sequoia<br />
High School and have been involved in sports all four years at the school. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
both currently participate in cross-country running and varsity track and field.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Stampede “raises money for all sports [at Sequoia High School],”<br />
Alyssa Bliss pointed out. “It’s an event that everyone can participate in. It<br />
strengthens the team feeling in our sports programs. It’s like a one-one time<br />
thing. People prepare for it and practice.”<br />
Alex Bliss added, “I’m glad that my dad came up with this idea. It’s just really<br />
cool at the end of the day when you see everybody smiling and out of breath.”<br />
<strong>Redwood</strong> General Tire has been a sponsor of the Sequoia Stampede since it<br />
started. “It helps the community,” commented owner Alpio<br />
Barbara. “It helps Sequoia High School. It’s<br />
the only one [the only high school] in the<br />
city. Sequoia is just an institution. It’s [the<br />
Stampede is] a grassroots event. I live in<br />
<strong>Redwood</strong> City. I work in <strong>Redwood</strong> City. It’s a<br />
good way for me to give back.”<br />
Whether you run or whether you walk,<br />
whether you’re in good shape or not, it’s<br />
worth heading to this year’s Sequoia<br />
Stampede. You’ll have a great time and<br />
feel good knowing that you’re not only<br />
getting some exercise but also supporting the Sequoia High<br />
School athletics program.<br />
Interested?<br />
What: Sequoia Stampede | When: Saturday, April 13, at 9 a.m.<br />
Where: Sequoia High School, 1201 Brewster Ave.<br />
Cost: $30 for adults, $15 for students<br />
www.seqstampede.com<br />
Registration form on Page 30