Lending star power to inaugural SM 5000 race
By JESSICA ROBERTS Special to the Daily Press
CITYWIDE — The Santa Monica 5000 will begin with a bang and end with a party on Sunday, as some celebrities lend a little star power to the inaugural foot race through the city’s streets.
Both the 5K and 10K routes will showcase much of Santa Monica — Main Street, the Ocean Avenue waterfront, City Hall — as well as a strong field of athletes, local runners and Hollywood stars.
“Grey’s Anatomy” actor Isaiah Washington, who plays a surgeon on the popular TV drama, will lend his steady hands by pulling the trigger on the starting gun. The race will ultimately end with a post-race party at the Santa Monica Pier, complete with a pancake breakfast served up by Kim Powers from “Survivor.”
The course is fast and flat, and expected to attract more than 1,000 registered runners for a race that will feature everything from a competitive elite race to a walkers and a baby-jogger division.
“We had a few goals for this race,” said event organizer Karen Kalan. “One was to get a lot of fast runners, another was to get a lot of local everyday runners... and then we wanted a lot of celebrities.”
Actor David James Elliot of “JAG” will compete in the race and several other celebrities, including actress Lisa Arturo, Alex Bell and Powers from “Survivor” and “CSI’s” Yennifer Behrens will assist with the event. Bell will serve as the official announcer during the race.
The last chance to pre-register for the race is today at the New Balance store (2828 Wilshire Blvd.), where Pat Connelly, coach of the Los Angeles Road Runners, will give a talk at 2 p.m. entitled “Getting the most out of your race.”
Connelly will also appear at the race, leading stretching at the ceremonial start stage and giving medals for everyday runners. He will provide gait analysis for interested runners at the finish line.
An elite wave of runners will compete for the $5,000 prize purse of the Los Angeles Sports & Fitness Invitational, including American men Bolota Asmeron, Fernando Cabada and Team Running USA athlete Jacques Sallberg. Asmerom won the 5,000-meter race at the 2006 Stanford Invitational (13:39) and competed in the same race at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Cabada set the American 25K record in winning the Fifth Third River Bank Run (1:14:21). Sallberg is a Pasadena resident who placed fourth at the 2006 USA 3,000 Meter Steeplechase Championship.
Josh Spiker from Ventura and Christian Hesch from Morro Bay are other local talents expected to participate.
Haron Lagat and Richard Kimeli, both from Kenya, should give the Americans tough competition after placing second and third at the Inaugural National City Invitational Mile on Oct. 1.
Kenyan Emily Chebet is expected to lead the women’s field, competing in her first race in the United States. Chebet placed second in the Kenyan 10,000-meter Championships in July and took the bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the Africa Athletics Championships last August.
Jennifer DeRego, an American who placed second in the Glide Floss Bridge to Bridge 12K in San Francisco,will also run.
The 5K race will feature $5,000 in prize money, including $1,000 for both the men’s and women’s winners, in addition to time bonuses and incentives for the top Santa Monica finishers.
The post-race party on the pier will feature a pancake breakfast, magicians and four live bands — Los Angeles-based Kelly’s Lot, New Maximum Donkey, Seeking Zenith and For Pete’s Sake. The rides at the pier will also be open.
“We’re hoping that families of people who are running will come out and meet up at the post-race party,” Kalan said.
Proceeds from the race will go to Saint John’s Emergency Department at the hospital, currently under construction. The hospital is in the process of nearly two decades of redevelopment as a result of damage sustained in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.
Registration will be open the day of the race for $35.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 21, 2006. Read the original PDF.