The Turkey Trot is celebrating their 10th anniversary with the Bryan-College Station community on Nov. 28.
Hosted by the BCS Marathon, the Turkey Trot will have a 5K race around the Firefox neighborhood while the family one-mile run/walk will be held at the Baylor Scott & White Health Center. All races start at 8 a.m., and they are not timed. The costs to participate are $20 for child/student, $25 for adults and $75 for a family of up to five. Those interested in participating can sign up online, but there will also be a chance to sign up on the morning of the event. Each participant will receive a special 10 year commemorative t-shirt and a free slice of pie or beer provided by New Republic Brewing Company.
Dan McClain, race director, said the Turkey Trot is the largest consecutive race for B-CS to host with about 1,500 runners this upcoming Thanksgiving.
“It’s a very large race, it’s our second largest race in the BCS Marathon race [series],” McClain said. “All proceeds from the Turkey Trot, including all of our other races as well, all proceeds benefit local charities.”
Chris Fields, the current CEO, founder of Mercy Project and founder of the BCS Marathon, said through email that the Turkey Trot was created by the Mercy Project, a local charity, to raise money to end child trafficking in Ghana, Africa. In addition, McClain said they have donated to almost every charity in the Bryan-College Station community, such as SOS Ministries and Habitat for Humanity.
McClain said this year’s Turkey Trot will see the largest crowd in its history, and because it’s their tenth year, they want to celebrate that with those that have been a part of the event from the beginning as well as new runners.
“There’s a lot of people that have run the Turkey Trot with us in the past nine years,” McClain said. “We’ve reached out to all of them and so we’ll have a lot of returner runners.”
The purpose of creating the Turkey Trot was the focus on the health and wellness of those living in the Bryan-College Station area, Fields said.
“[We’re] just trying to get the community together to do something fun and healthy as a family,” Fields said. “It’s completely family oriented.”
Gretchen Nickson, the creative director for the Mercy Project, said participants are helping the organization through their participation in the Turkey Trot.
“We often make giving a complicated thing but … it’s super easy to plug into something locally and get involved and give a little of your time and energy to make a big difference,” Nickson said.
Fields said the success of the Turkey Project and other races in the BCS Marathon are the reason why the Mercy Project has seen such success in their purpose to help others.
“It’s a great community event that brings people and families together for a good cause with lasting implications that span across the world,” Fields said.
More information about the Turkey Trot can be found at http://bcsturkeytrot.com/.