Turkey Trot Strengthens Family Ties

By MICHAEL AUSHENKER | Contributing Writer

It was evident from the very first shot of the starting gun: as with Thanksgiving itself, family was front and center at 2016’s Turkey Trot.

Look no further than Ramin Razavi, winner of the fourth annual Palisades Charter High School-based Thanksgiving race.

Razavi, 38, was the first person to cross the finish line at the Nov. 24 event—held on the warmest and sunniest of Palisades days—beating his younger brothers, Kamaran, 37, and Eli, 28, who had flown in for the holiday from New York. Their father, Mehdi Ravavi, 68, also ran the Turkey Trot for the second consecutive year.

“I love that we’re uniting for the common good and helping the kids,” he said. “It’s just a beautiful event to bring the Palisades together.”

“It was pretty fun,” said the winner’s son, Isaiah, 10.

“It’s such a relaxed event,” said the Razavi brothers’ mother Trudy Razavi, who observed that the fact that it’s not a highly competitive race adds to the appeal.

Ramin’s siblings were not surprised their older brother won.

“As to be expected with him,” Kamaran said.

From PaliHi’s stadium, about 1,500 locals and visitors participated in this run through the neighborhood streets, organized once again by David O’Connell.

What was particularly interesting about Ramin’s big win is that he had just moved six days earlier from Boulder, Colorado, to the Palisades, where he started working as pastor at Calvary Church of Pacific Palisades days later on Nov. 28.

Moments after crossing the finish line—and fresh with excitement from the move, a new job and joining father Mehdi and brother Kamaran as Palisadian residents—Ramin explained how he wanted to take part in the Turkey Trot because it serves Hearts of Hope, a charity benefiting children with congenital heart defects.

Family appeared to be a recurring theme among the participants in the race. Take Michael Branch and son Connor, 8, who attends Palisades Elementary Charter School. After having run the July 4th 5K/10K run, they ran their first Turkey Trot on Thursday, hours before driving up to Santa Barbara to spend the holiday with family.

John Closson, representing the Palisades branch of race sponsor Berkshire Hathaway Home Services (on Alma Real Drive) for four years running, said, “One of the [event’s] strengths is a great sense of community. A non-competitive family friendly race to kick off Thanksgiving is ideal.”

“It’s wonderful!” said volunteer Alison Duffy, who was out  with husband Brett Duffy (of Berkshire Hathaway) and volunteers Marty Lloyd and Michael Sorich (with the LA Running Club) handing out medals and bottles of water to the runners as they crossed the finish line. “It’s a great family and community event.”

Also crossing the finish line: Yvonne Robles, a Palisadian of seven months from Colombia, who was out there with her wife, sister-in-law and nephew. She said that she wanted to participate “to share with my family.”

Meanwhile, Sylvia Karlan brought daughter Jennifer, 13, a Sinai Akiba student who almost won the July 4th 5K at the Palisades Recreation Center.

“I love running and I thought it’d be great [to run the Turkey Trot],” said Jennifer Karlan, who preferred the Turkey Trot to the July 4th  race, even though she had done better on the summer run.

Palisadian William Von Arx ran the race with sister Aimee Von Arx and buddy Harrison Cates. Aimee, who had run the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon in Montreal last year while attending McGill University, enjoyed this opportunity to run this Trot.

“This one’s harder,” she said, comparing it to the Palisades’ Independence Day run, which she had taken part in over the summer. “It’s a lot more uphill and more challenging.”

“Our moms did the 10K [this year],” Cates said.

Cates and William Von Arx ran the Turkey Trot in 2015 as well.

“It was freezing last year,” William Von Arx said.

“It’s more work this year,” added Cates, who observed that once he was three-quarters up Temescal Canyon Road, “I stopped hurting.”

Branch went out of his way to express his appreciation for both the event’s organizers and area residents for tolerating the redistricting of their streets for this run.

“It’s great that they do this,” Branch said. “It’s a bit of work. It’s a lot of effort.

Then, looking over at young Connor, Branch added, “It gave us something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.”