From Wayne Lee:
I have to tell you all what a great time I had. You made our vision come true. I personally met some of the nicest people this past weekend. We compiled the list of late entries and sent out T-shirts within a couple of weeks. Sorry we ran out, but who would have guessed 25 people to sign up on Saturday.  Thank you to all that supported the $500 hat idea. Cody loved it.

Also congratulations to our overall winner John Sturdevant, who by the way bought a hat with his winnings. Also thanks to Paul LaBahn and Don Napolitano for donating their awards to the Cody Unser fund. Here is some information about her participation in our event.

When Karen dropped Cody and family at the airport Cody was crying with joy and the unbelievable support from everyone in the event. I want to thank everyone one of you. We will compile a final entry list, fact and figures and send on to you.

The latest list of contributors to the foundation are:

From Ron Songrath:

I WAS ONLY KIDDING!!!!  I was actually hoping that we would hit the 120 mark...and did we ever.  With ten days to go, we were at 74 registered entrants and the thought of 140 plus was not on anyone's mind...or in their realm of imagination....as Gomer use to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!" 

Earlier this year, our club theme for the year was PARTICIPATION and participate is what our members and our guests did....in a huge way.  If you were unable to attend, you really missed the boat....literally.  We had a great venue, great atmosphere, awesome weather and incredible participation with over 550 offshore enthusiast attending the two day event.  For those of you that did attend, we appreciate your support and enthusiasm..it really showed. 

The most incredible part of our weekend was the great attitude of our participants and they showed that by their generosity toward a great charity, the Cody Unser First Step Foundation.  Cody was our Grand Marshalette as she and the Long Beach Fireboat, with its water cannon's blasting away, lead the fleet out to the Queens Gate entrance and once the fleet hit the open ocean....it was "Katie, Bar the Door!" as the fleet of boats roared off to the first stop at Newport Beach.  At the completion of the Awards ceremony, Wayne Lee, the SCOPE Poker Run Director handed over a check to Cody for her Foundation for over $15,000!!!!!  The SCOPE Board of Directors salute the kindness and generosity of all the people that made this donation possible...everyone is to be commended. 

We also have to give special recognition to the SCOPE Board of Directors for their time and hard work in putting this event together...they are lead by Wayne Lee, Lu Lyall, Jeff Cheng, Chuck Buehler, Chris and Andrea Lee. We also want to thank a group of dedicated helpers that signed up the latecomers and helped organize the sale of lunch tickets, t-shirts, etc...this group was lead by Pam Burns, Karen Lee, Kristen Ballay, Judy Mandina and Rita Buehler.  We also need to acknowledge or group of card boat officials, who gave up the opportunity to run with the main group and manned their post while the rest of us flew by....if we missed anyone, we apologize, but we do appreciate everyone's great assistance...thank you. 

Well, Poker Run number nine is history.....next year will be bigger and better than ever....can you spell SELL OUT??? That is what next year will be.....a SELL OUT!!!!  I am warning the late registrants now....if you snooze next year, you will be on the outside looking in through the fences!!!!!  Keep the tabs up and the drives out!

Captian Ron and Crew