On June 2, 2013, a beautiful Sunday morning, about 200 runners/walkers and their friends and family gathered at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, for the Spartan 5K Classic, an addition/offshoot of the annual Bulldog-Spartan 5k Classic. Thomas Hernandez, Physical Education teacher and co-Athletic Director at Sunnyvale Middle School and organizer of the event, welcomed everyone and pulled the trigger to start the race/run at around 8:30 AM.
Jordyn Sato, an 8th Grade student at SMS, helped organize the event as her Girl Scouts Silver Project, and intended to make participation an annual SMS tradition. Participants included SMS students, their siblings and families, as well as SMS alumni. Competition categories included male and female overall, Grade 6 and under, Grades 7-8, Grades 9-12, 19-29 year-old, 30-39 year-old, 40-49 year-old, and 50+ year-old.
The Spartan 5K Classic brought in about $2000, which will help fund new equipment for Sunnyvale Middle School’s Physical Education Department.
The overall winner of the race was an SMS alumnus, Dan Dabel, a freshman at Homestead High School. His brother, Dylan Dabel, was 2nd overall. Their parents, Lisa and Bret Dabel, also had a nice showing in their Fun Run. Winners in each category won a medal. Each participant received a ribbon at the finish line. Participants who had registered by May 24 received an event t-shirt.
2013-14’s joint Bulldog/Spartan 5K Classic will be held on Saturday, September 28, 2013. Event information and registration instructions will be available soon. Please contact the SMS office (408-522-8288) or go to their website for details http://www.sesd.org/education/components/layout/default.php?sectionid=45.
Correction: We regret to announce that the original article did not mention the upcoming event is a joint venture between Columbia Middle School and Sunnyvale Middle School. In the past, the Bulldog/Spartan 5K Classic has been an annual event joining the two schools. We are pleased to know the tradition continues and our deepest apologies to Columbia Middle School for the omission.
The 2013-14Spartan Classic?? I thought this was a joint effort?
Columbia Middle School did the very first 5K in SESD, which was organized by Gigi Swan, Bret Cullen and I, then we joined forces with SMS. My understanding is this is still a joint event, why is only SMS mentioned in this article for the upcoming September 28th event? This is disappointing and a low blow.
When the story was written, the organizer at SMS had not shared that the September 28 event was a joint Spartan/Bulldog event. The correct information was sent to the writer of the article the day after the digest was published. Please note the correction in the article.