Kirby Park is the setting Sunday for the 8th annual Parker Palermo race presented by King’s College’s Cross Country teams. The race is a good way for the runners to take a break away from the rigorous every day training of running while helping out in honor of a former runner.
Coach Mike Kolinovsky, who is in his 13th season as the leader of the cross country program is excited for this year’s edition of the race.
“Its always a fun time,” Kolinovsky said of the race. “We have a record number of pre-registrations for this years race.”
Parker Palermo, was a 2003 graduate of King’s College and a runner for Kolinovsky’s team who passed away on September 11, 2006 and was looking to go to veterinarian school. He was working at the Plains Animal Hospital before his passing.
Kolinovsky described Palermo as a “fun guy who loved animals.”
“Parker was always caring for animals,” Kolinovsky said. “He always had an animal of some sort at his house. He cared for dogs, cats, and even lambs. Parker was always looking for people to adopt the animals. Parker was actually the person that gave my wife and I our dog, a golden lab, before we had kids”.
Palermo also ran track for King’s club program and swam for a year at the school prior to his graduation. He had a great sense of humor and was always having fun. Kolinovsky said Palermo was very funny and could recite movie lines out of memory.
“Parker had a big impact on my life and his teammates lives,” Kolinovsky said. “He was well-respected and always making people laugh.”
Walk-in registrations for the race start at 7:45 with the race beginning at 9:30 and the cost for the race is $20. Kolinovsky said the record is 112 runners and he is expecting to possibly surpass that number in this years’ edition of the race.