Brian's run beats on in Fresno after 30 years

And so does namesake Brian Sturgeon, who despite cerebral palsy still joins in.

Published online on Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2009

Crass as it sounds, the question doesn't offend Vonny Sturgeon. Her answer is as friendly as it is well-honed.

"People ask me, 'Is Brian still alive?' " she says. "I always tell them, 'Very much so.' "

Brian is Brian Sturgeon, Vonny's 57-year-old son and namesake of the Brian Sturgeon St. Patrick's Day Run, which marks its 30th year Saturday at Woodward Park.

And like he has every year since 1979, Brian Sturgeon will be out there as a participant.

Never mind that he was born with cerebral palsy, a motor disorder linked to damage to the central nervous system usually before or during birth.

Never mind that he can no longer run and must resort to a slow, steady shuffle.

It's his race, after all. And he wouldn't miss it for the world.

"I do as much as I can with whatever I have," Brian says in a raspy voice. "We all have something."

Sturgeon's presence helps give the run a unique feel among central San Joaquin Valley running events, says longtime race director Ken Takeuchi.

The 4-mile run, which begins at 8 a.m., is worth the maximum of 30 points in the Valley Runner of the Year Series.

There is also a 2-mile run/walk and kids' races that go off starting at 7:15 a.m.

Takeuchi also understands why there always is some confusion about Brian Sturgeon.

"Normally when an event is named after a person, that person is deceased," says Takeuchi, using the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure as an example.

"But Brian is very much a part of this race, and he gives it more of a human touch. He's a real inspiration and motivation for others."

How Brian Sturgeon started on this path is inspiring and motivational in itself.

Born in Fresno, Brian attended Visalia's Divisadero Middle School because it had a pilot program that integrated disabled and special-needs students with the rest of the school.

Cerebral palsy might have stripped Sturgeon of precise body movements and muscle coordination, but it didn't take away his desire to run. ("I thought I could do it and found out that I could.") So Brian joined Divisadero's cross country team.

Even though more than four decades have passed, Vonny Sturgeon still gets teary-eyed reminiscing about those days. Her son always finished last, but he always finished. And he never finished alone.

"When his teammates were done with their race, they would go back and run with Brian so he wouldn't have to cross the finish line by himself," she says, her voice cracking.

The Sturgeons moved back to Fresno, where Brian became team manager for the Fresno High cross country squad. He worked as a food server at a local restaurant, though an arthritic back has further limited him in recent years.

Sturgeon also takes acting, computer and engine classes at the United Cerebral Palsy Center for Arts & Technology. He lives in a Fresno assisted-care apartment complex.

But while no longer a competitive runner, he never stopped running, up to 9 miles a day. For years, his primary running partner was Stuart Rose, a family friend and ex-Broadway performer.

Inspired by their time together, Rose came up with the idea to hold a running event in Brian's honor to benefit UCP of Central California. The first year, it poured down rain; only 18 people showed up.

The run began as a jog-a-thon but really started to gain traction when it became a competitive race and joined the Valley Runner of the Year Series. In 2004, it moved to the weekend closest to St. Patrick's Day.

Now, at 30, the race is the Valley's second-oldest running event behind only the Father's Day Run.

Jamie Marrash, executive director of UCP of Central California, says the run has raised nearly $500,000 for the charity since its inception.

But more than that, it's been an invaluable educational and promotional tool.

"There's still a misnomer that people with CP have cognitive disabilities, which anyone who meets Brian can see isn't true," Marrash says. "We're very well known thanks in large part to this race and the efforts of this family."

In 2002, Sturgeon was honored as an Olympic torch bearer leading up to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

He practiced by shuffling on the Fresno High track while holding a large flashlight above his head.

Brian calls the quarter-mile he spent carrying the Olympic torch near Lake Tahoe "the pinnacle" of his life.

"We were concerned he might drop it, but he just took off like a shot and ran the whole way," says Ed Sturgeon, Brian's father.

"He told me afterward it was because he was so cold."

Because of his arthritic back, which has recently improved, Brian hasn't run much in recent years.

But he'll be out there Saturday, even if it means walking.

He wears the No. 1 bib, starts at the front of the field and always receives warm applause when Takeuchi introduces him over the public-address system.

Says Brian: "Not many people have a race named after them."