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| Click for the special Tiger Trot Video! |
Cat Tales interviewed Jodi Payson, In-Sync Exotics' Events' Coordinator, on how well the 3rd Annual Tiger Trot went this year:
Cat Tales: Well, Jodi, this was your first combined 5-k and 1-mile Tiger Trot event you coordinated this year--so tell us, how did it go?
Jodi: It was great! We had a lot of participants this year, many of which never even knew we existed until race day! They benefited greatly from our information table and learned a lot about exotic wild cats living in captivity.
This was my original goal: to bring in people from our metroplex who had no idea who we were; I am excited about next year's turnout as we plan to make it even bigger and better!
Cat Tales: Well, based on the positive feedback received, it seems your first Tiger Trot was a fun event for humans and their furry companions!
Jodi: Everything went smoothly, from check-in to the finish. We had a great pooch turnout, about 15 dogs! There was one dog that was really sweet. The second I stopped petting him, he barked at me! The owner said he had never done that before; I guess he was excited about winning a medal too! We got a lot of questions about bringing our animals to the next Tiger Trot, however, we explained to folks that a real tiger at the Tiger Trot event was NOT a good idea! The tigers would win all the events, paws down.
Cat Tales: So how did the set-up of the event go? Any problems?
Jodi: I cannot thank the volunteers enough for arriving bright and early to set up the tables and signs! They did an amazing job--thank you, guys!
Cat Tales: Was it ideal running/walking weather?
Jodi: It was actually kind of cold. The wind was definitely an obstacle, not only for the volunteers who came out to help with the event, but with the participants as well. The sky was a fairly gray color. I think when we started setting up at 6am the temperature was about 50. By the start of the races it may have gone up to maybe 65.
Cat Tales: Brrr....
Jodi: With all the excitement, our runners and walkers warmed up in no time at all!
Cat Tales: I imagine the winners were really warmed up after their "photo finishes."
Jodi: For the 5K, we had first , second and third overall winners. For the 1-mile we had top male over 18, top male under 18, top female over 18 and top female under 18. A cool story about the top males over and under 18 is they were father and son!
Cat Tales: That is cool! So did the event last all day?
Jodi: Both races had to start on time because the police needed to reopen the streets. The 5K started at 9:30am and the 1 mile started at 9:45am. The last participants left at about 11:45am.
Cat Tales: Not bad! Did my nose happen to catch a whiff of some goodies in bags?
Jodi: Cat Tales, you have quite a super sniffer! Yes, along with a t-shirt, we gave each participant a goodies bag. Each bag contained a:
- Toothpick: In‐Sync picks the cats no one else wants;
- Band Aid: Your gifts goes towards the healing of our cats;
- Teabag: A reminder to relax and enjoy our cats;
- Pencil: To list our blessings;
- Hershey Kisses: We are rewarded by kisses & sweet times;
- Jolly Rancher: Hardy candy for hard times;
- Gum: To remind us to stick with it & we can accomplish anything;
- Dum Dum: For all the dum dums that have harmed our cats;
- Rose Petal: In loving memory of those cats that have crossed the rainbow bridge.
We also included the temporary Albertsons' scan card, business cards of our t-shirt company, a list of remaining 2011 events, and a proposed 2012 event schedule. On the same table next to the goodies bags we had Southwest Airlines peanuts and pretzels, brochures for the North Texas Cat rescue, and brochures for My Fit Foods with a buy-1-get-1 free coupon!
Cat Tales: Anyone you'd like to give a special shout-out to?
Cat Tales: Anyone you'd like to give a special shout-out to?
Jodi: We would like to thank all of our volunteers for helping with the event, participating in the event, and soliciting donations. We'd also like to thank My Fit Foods for bringing out treats for every one, LFgraphco for creating amazing t-shirts, North Texas Cat Rescue for their sponsorship, and our entertaining singer, Faron Gilbert, he was awesome!! And thank you to all participants and supporters of In-Sync Exotics! We wouldn't be here without you!
Cat Tales: All of us at In-Sync Exotics would like to extend two paws with claws up and a mighty tiger growl to everyone who participated and made this event such a success! Thanks to you, we were able to raise $8,490.00! We'd also like to extend tiger growls of approval to the individuals that obtained individual sponsorship donations for the cats and to our wonderful photographers, Susan Adams and Kelli Malone! Outstanding job everyone!
Please forgive us for not covering the Turkey Toss in this posting as we went a little long with this tigerific posting on the 3rd Annual Tiger Trot! Please check back tomorrow for the Turkey Toss event posting, which will include the winners of the Emma tiger coloring contest!
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