People sponsor turtles ahead of time and then come and cheer on 'their' turtle. There were a total of 28 heats, with 8 turtles in each heat. There were not that many turtles used. the turtles would get re-used from heat to heat... there were probably 30 or so turtles there. The sponsors were anyone from a unit in the hospital, to the CFL department, to a group of physicians, to a single person or in honor of someone.
At the start of each heat, color marker were placed on the 8 participating turtles backs, and each turtle would be announced who they were representing in the heat and placed in the middle circle.
![turtles go in ring](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/3666432209_667fcd1490.jpg)
Then the circle would be lifted and the turtles would RUN! to the outside. Everyone would cheer, if there was a group of sponsor's there, they would yell especially loud for their turtle. Each sponsor had a name for the turtles - here are some of the names (and their sponsors):
Buzz Light Turtle (Pediatric Surgery)
John Wayne Turtle (MN Medical Foundation)
Code Brown (University Emergency Department)
Turtlemodulation (Clinical Neuroscience Admin Center)
Hurry Up and Wait (Unit 2A)
Derby Dude-a-licious (CFL)
R2D Turtle (Pediatric Surgery)
The Tumor-nator (Masonic cancer center clinical trials office)
Sir Turtlot (Boynton Health Services)
I could go on and on... anyway here they are running to the finish:
![run turtles run](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/3667238790_331de7d7e5.jpg)
And they were fast too! The volunteers would have to run to catch them before they fell off the platform:
![winner turtle](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3667237698_fac21195bf.jpg)
Child Family Life was pretty much running the show. Here is Sarah and Anne leading the TV show that airs on the hospital channel throughout the inpatient floors: (can you tell Anne's pregnant?)
![sarah and anne](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3540/3666431867_b656e16d22.jpg)
I was a runner, which meant me and another gal (Melissa) would run up to the pediatric unites (5A, 5B, 5C, & 5D) and collect 'messages' that kids or staff would write. These messages would be announced by the show hosts on air so the patients watching could here. A lot of patients were able to make it down to join the festivities, while some were not able to but watched from their rooms.
It was a lot of fun, hot day, but lots of fun! It was so fun watching those turtles run!!
PS: if you haven't noticed, I've finally linked my photos to my flickr account. So if you click on the photos it'll take you to my albums where I have them all (or going to start having them) together.
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