Palisades Funding Turkey Trot organizers announced last week that due to COVID-19 and concerns that city services, permitting and Palisades High sports facilities will not be available, the Thanksgiving Day 5/10K race has been canceled for the second straight year.
“The last time I talked to the city they weren’t certain they could grant permits,’ event co-founder David Houston said. “Also we may have a spike in November just like we had last year in which case we could get canceled at the last minute. It’s tough. We really wanted to get back to it this year.”
This year’s Palisades Will Rogers 5/10K, a Fourth of July race that started in 1978, was similarly canceled when city officials did not approve permit requests in time.
The local Turkey Trot debuted as a 5K through the El Medio Bluffs neighborhood in 2013. Two years later a 10K was added, taking runners down and back up Temescal Canyon. Both routes start and end at Pali High’s Stadium by the Sea.
Organizers hope the decision to postpone the eighth edition of the race for another year will help sponsors, runners and their families plan for the holiday accordingly.
Houston and his wife Dawn partnered with David O’Connell to coordinate the inaugural event in 2013 to raise money for Hearts for Hope and they were soon joined by Dr. Dan Levi, a pediatric cardiologist at UC, and his wife Jenn.
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