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Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Homestead's Pamela Johnson races to a seventh-place finish at last year's Firebird Invitational at Fremont. There will be 15 schools in the field when the event returns to Fremont on Sept. 17.

Running for watermelons?

That's the plan at Fremont

By Dick Sparrer

With the recent rise in the thermometer, it's certainly the time of year for a cool, refreshing slice of watermelon.

But is it worth running more than two miles for that slice?

The runners at Fremont High School must think so, because that's what they'll be doing on Sept. 10 when the 16th annual Watermelon Run returns to the Sunnyvale campus.

Runners will take off at 3:30 p.m. in the 2.1-mile event. The winners in each division will walk off with watermelons, and all finishers will share watermelons at the race's end.

There will be divisions for both boys and girls in the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes. Many members of Pat Lawson's Fremont cross country team will compete in the event, but the race is open to all Fremont students.

Did we say students? Well, it's more than that. There are also divisions for men and women on the Fremont faculty and for male and female alumni runners.

The fun event annually kicks off the Fremont cross country season, but the Firebirds will be running for real a week later when they return to the same course for their annual Firebird Invitational. And this year's event promises to be one of the best ever.

Central Coast Section powers Los Gatos and Saratoga will head up the 15-team field for boys' and girls' teams. The first race gets under way at 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 17.

Santa Clara, Cupertino, Wilcox, Homestead, Lynbrook, Los Altos, Milpitas, Del Mar, Westmont, Gunn, Monta Vista and Mountain View will also join Fremont for the tough two-miler.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 9, 1998.
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