Raiders Legend Willie Brown, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and the Raiderettes pose at the finish line of the Oakland Running Festival. Photo by Tony Gonzales
The Raiderettes, Raiders staff members and Raider Nation on Location were on hand for the 4th Annual Oakland Running Festival. "A spectacular day for Oakland – we are proud to participate," said Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask. "[We are] here supporting our Raiders runners and all of Oakland."
"The Raiders have been involved since day one," said Lee Corrigan, Executive Director of the Oakland Marathon and Running Festival. "They're the one franchise that's been here since Day 1 and we really appreciate it. The Raider Legends, the Raiderettes there at the finish line always excite the crowd, so it's great to have them involved."
The Oakland Running Festival had its biggest turnout yet with over 9,000 runners participating. "What a terrific day here for Oakland," said Corrigan. "We had 9,100 total runners come out to Oakland to support this event; terrific event. We've been growing at a 15 percent clip every single year for four straight years. We're excited about the event - $4 million of economic impact for the city, about $400,000 for charity."
The energy was high at the start and finish of each race. "Oakland shows up, that's all I can say," said Corrigan. "They show up on the course, right here at the finish line, we had thousands of people cheering on the runners. People from all over the country, 39 different states, nine different countries, came to Oakland today to celebrate the event."
The Raiderettes enjoyed cheering on the thousands of runners crossing the finish line, whether they participated in the full marathon, half marathon, relay, 5K or kids fun run. "It was really fun," said Raiderette Maureen. "There were a lot of people. I think there were 9,000 people here today so there were a lot of runners coming through. It was fun being at the finish line and congratulating them all."
