Seagate Elite Athlete 5k Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:Mark Winitz, Win-It!z Sports Public Relations PAIR OF BLAKES WIN APPLIED MATERIALS SILICON VALLEYTURKEY TROT/SEAGATE ELITE 5KSAN JOSE, Calif. - (November 25, 2005) - With intentions of burning off calories prior to the traditional holiday feast, 1,800 participants turned out for the inaugural Applied Materials Silicon Valley 5K/10K and companion Seagate Elite 5K in San Jose yesterday morning. In the Seagate Elite 5K, designed to showcase top distance runners, Blake Russell of Marina, Calif. and Blake Bolden of Ames, IA burned off their respective women's and men's fields for victories.First, Russell led the elite women's event from starting gun to finish line over the one-half mile downtown course, circled a bit over six times to complete 3.1 miles. Gradually extending her lead, the 30-year-old Russell scored a convincing win in 16 minutes and 2 seconds. She defeated Canadian 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter record holder Courtney Babcock, who finished in 16:12. Kenya's Jackline Okemwa was third in 16:48.Then, Bolden, a 26-year-old assistant track and cross country coach at Iowa State University and recent standout at Missouri State University, surprised the talented men's field by making a bold move to the front with less than a mile remaining. He held his lead to the finish, crossed in 14:16, a clock-tick ahead of up-and-comer Steve Sundell. Jonathon Riley, a 2004 U.S. Olympian at 5,000 meters and Olympic Trials runner-up, was third in 14:19.Both winners displayed remarkable confidence over the criterium-style course as crowds of recreational runners, pumped up following their separate Applied Materials Open/Age-Group 5K and 10K runs, looked on. Each victor won $2,500 portions of the $20,000 prize purse. "I felt really good coming off my marathon," Russell said about her 6th place 2:29:10 performance at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon last month, a personal best. "My goal was to see where I was in my training. I was hoping to break 16 minutes, but I'm happy with my time."Said Bolden about the men's race: "I saw the co-leaders [Sundell and Riley] back off a stride, so I stepped right between them and tried not to look back. I knew that I could run with anyone in the field over a mile distance, so I was confident that I could go from there. I knew I belonged." The event raised over $125,000 for three local charity organizations: the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank, and the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County.The 2005 Silicon Valley Turkey Trot was presented by Applied Materials. Additional generous sponsors include Seagate, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, SAP, KB Home, EMC, ETM-Electromatic, Good Samaritan Hospital, Hyperion, PG&E, and NetLogic. Our media sponsors are the San Jose Mercury News, Nuevo Mundo, Viet Mercury, NBC 11, KRTY, and KLIV. Our hotel sponsors are Hilton San Jose, The Fairmont San Jose, and The Sainte Claire.