Outdoor enthusiasts hit triathlon circuit in the name of the
Garlic Festival
GILROY – There once was a garlic-braided centipede. Now, there is the Reek Squad.
Though years have gone by since a tethered group of seven or eight happy-go-lucky Gilroyans, dawning identical garlic garb, including garlic-bulb hats, annually wound their way through the crowded Gilroy Garlic Festival grounds during the 1980s, for veterans of the festival, memories of the centipede will be reincarnated this year in the form of the Reek Squad.
The idea behind the centipede: a promotion of Gilroy’s premier party by participating in local running events – the Bay to Breakers, for example. The newly formed Reek Squad will follow in its footsteps.
Garlic Festival president Greg Bozzo and long-time festival pyro chef, Jon Vickroy, took that successful formula and ran with it.
“Him and I started talking about the idea of this garlic-braid centipede and how it was a cool idea promoting the healthier side of the festival,” Bozzo said. “He came up with this idea which we now call the Reek Squad.”
A group of 10, which includes current and former festival committee members, and just overall fans of the festival, make up the Reek Squad roster so far, Bozzo said, but that number can change at any point.
“It’s kind of a revolving number,” he added. “There’s a group of us that have been doing triathlons and running events for many years. And sometimes we would see each other there or compete against each other. We thought, ‘here’s a group of people that might want to restart the idea.'”
Though unsure of how many events the group will hit leading up the the July 23-25 shindig, the initial test for the fitness gurus is the Uvas Reservoir Triathlon in Morgan Hill on Sunday.
“We have all been hopefully practicing on our own,” Bozzo said. “We encourage people to look for us and root for us.”
