Sports
After a successful return of the Oakland Marathon last year after a 25-year hiatus, Oakland is ready to host the second edition of the city’s Running Festival this weekend. “The revival of the Oakland Running Festival is one of the many signs of Oakland looking more forward,” Mayor Jean Quan said at a press conference on Thursday. She hopes that the festival will introduce the projected 7,300 runners to Oakland’s diverse neighborhoods and scenic beauty.
The Oakland School Board meeting began last night with a cheer. Literally. The Sobrante Park Elementary cheerleaders have returned from a first place finish in the statewide competitive cheer competition in Los Angeles, and they saluted the board and meeting audience with kicks, twirls and pom-poms.
The Oakland Marathon will get off to a running start on Sunday, March 27 with a handful of other race events and activities on Saturday preceding the principal competition, as part of the second annual Oakland Running Festival.
Jorge Leon was removed at an A’s game last year for holding a sign that read “Wolff lied, he never tried” to protest the move. Reporter Evan Wagstaff sat down with Leon to ask what he’s done since then to keep the team in Oakland.
In the 2011 season opener for the Oakland Outlaws, Oakland’s own roller derby team, the Outlaws face off against the Berkeley Resistance, the newest team to be added to the B.ay A.rea D.erby (B.A.D.) Girls Roller Derby league.
Turfing was born in Oakland in the early ‘90s, but it wasn’t until a 2009 YouTube video called “Dancing in the Rain,” produced by YAK Films, that turf dancing started receiving national attention. To bring turfing back to the local level, and to encourage local dancers of all skill levels to start, the Eastside Arts Alliance’s Oakland Hip Hop Institute is offering a six-session workshop.
March Madness started today. March Madness, the NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament, is held in March and April every year. This year, the championship game falls on April 4, and will be held in Houston. In honor of this annual tradition, Oakland North hopes to help you keep track of the madness with a breakdown of teams and game times. This project will be updated at the end of each day’s games to reflect game outcome
It’s Monday afternoon, and most of Oakland Technical High School’s ice hockey team—in full pads and bright purple and yellow uniforms bearing their Bulldogs logo—have hit the ice for a special skills clinic led by Justin Braun and Andrew Desjardins, players for the San Jose Sharks.
It was early, raining and Sunday, but about 300 people still gathered in front of the Oakland Marriot City Center last weekend for the final official training run for the Oakland Running Festival’s marathon and half-marathon races.