Under the full harvest moon, thousands gathered at the Palo Alto Baylands for the 38th annual Moonlight Run & Walk on the evening of Sept. 9.

The annual event, organized by the Palo Alto Weekly and city of Palo Alto, kicked off with a 5K walk at 7 p.m. Medals were awarded to the top three finishers in the half-marathon, 5K run and 10K run, which began at varying times between 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The complete race results can be found at results.changeofpace.com.

Paul Leblond finished in first place in the half-marathon, completing his race in one hour and 19 minutes.

He was followed by Matt Jones, who finished the half-marathon in one hour and 28 minutes, and Luke Kirincich, who also completed the race just 31 seconds later than Jones.

Sara Kato took first place out of the female half-marathoners, finishing the race in one hour and 33 minutes. Ellen Kuhl and Renee Kimbrough took second and third place, completing the race in one hour and 40 minutes and one hour and 42 minutes, respectively.

In the 10K race, Eric Buysse finished in first place, completing the course in 35 minutes and 14 seconds.

Buysse was followed by Rory Runser, who completed the race in 38 minutes and four seconds, and Dillon Hu, who finished in 39 minutes and 50 seconds.

Out of the female 10K runners, Jenna Harris finished first, completing the race in 42 minutes and 23 seconds. Katherine Debski took second place, finishing in 45 minutes and 29 seconds, and Erin Kyle took third, completing the race in 45 minutes and 55 seconds, only 26 seconds later than Debski.

In the 5K race, Neville Davey took first place, finishing the race in 16 minutes and 26 seconds.

William Bottrell took second place, completing the course in 18 minutes and three seconds, and Adam Bechtel finished third, completing the race in 18 minutes and six seconds.

Out of the female 5K runners, Rebecca Tisdale finished first in 21 minutes flat. Stephanie Loseille followed, completing the race in 21 minutes and 49 seconds, and Meghan Poon finished third, completing the course just five seconds later than Loseille.

Proceeds from the event mark the beginning of the Weekly's Holiday Fund, which gathers funds that are turned into grants for nonprofits that assist children and families in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

This year's corporate sponsors were the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, DeLeon Realty, Kaiser Permanente, The Six Fifty, Stanford Federal Credit Union, Stanford Health Care, Wealth Architects and the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Foundation.

As a special surprise for the first-place finisher of the 10K in the 70+ age bracket, a $250 prize, the Parthasarathy Running Free Award, was given, the first distribution of what will be an annual honor. The recipient, Loreli Trippel, finished with a time of one hour and 2 minutes. The award is a donation from Priya and Yash Jadeja in honor and memory of Priya's father, who ran until he was 83 for the joy and freedom it gave him. The Moonlight Run was a huge reason for his visits to Palo Alto, according to the Jadejas.