Turkey Trot runners aid arthritis charity

     By Lynn Collier
     View staff writer
      It was cloudy and windy with a chilling bite in the air that only steaming hot coffee and a Krispy Kreme doughnut could warm.
      But 1,200 Turkey Trot runners mostly settled for stretching exercises against the light poles in Sam's Town parking lot.
      The 18th Turkey Trot, which benefits the Arthritis Foundation's Las Vegas branch, was held Nov. 8 and featured a 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer race down Boulder Highway.
      This year's event raised about $30,000 in cash and $100,000 in donations of food, water and publicity, said event coordinator Rose George.
      Most of the money goes to support local programs for the 200,000 men, women and children that suffer from the disease in Nevada, said George, the foundation's development coordinator.
      The Turkey Trot, one of the Arthritis Foundation's largest fund-raisers, drew 900 runners last year and grew by 300 this year. George said she thinks the race, which has become a popular community event, will attract even more next year.
      "It increases awareness of the mission of the Arthritis Foundation and it's a lot of fun," she said.
      She and about 50 volunteers awoke at 2 a.m. in the morning to set up the race and its activities, which ran until noon.
      Henderson's Anthony Crudale, who led the 5-kilometer race until the last few laps, finished in second place with a time of 16 minutes, 52 seconds.
      "I feel just fine," he said. "I would feel better if I'd stayed up front the whole way."
      Crudale, who has been diagnosed with autism, has been running for four years. He said he runs 15 miles a day near his Green Valley home.
      "I like to run because it helps me look more athletic and makes me faster," he said.
      Currently he's a UNLV junior studying art. He and his mother moved here three years ago from Rhode Island.
      Donna Crudale said her 21-year-old son, who has been the subject of many research projects because of his educational achievements, will be the first autistic person to graduate college when he finishes his degree at UNLV in 2000.
      She said he has always been in mainstream classes in Rhode Island and attended a college prep high school there.
      Albin Swenson, 51, passed Crudale in the last stretch of the race. Swenson won the men's 5-kilometer division with a time of 16:48.
      Swenson, who is an employee assistance manager for Texaco, was in town for an Employee Assistance Professional Association conference.
      Enrique Figueroa, a Mexican national, won the men's 10-kilometer division with a time of 32:50. Last month the 21-year-old won a Halloween costume run in Green Valley, which was sponsored by 24-Hour Fitness gym.
      Henderson's Kim Jefferson, a physical education teacher at Thurman White Middle School, won the women's 5-kilometer race with a time of 19:33.
      Amy Blackwell of Las Vegas, who teaches special education at New Horizon Academy, won the women's 10-kilometer run with a time of 36:46.