Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Turkey Day trot

Races of all types on Thanksgiving become tradition
Runners of all ages take off at the start of the 2012 Turkey Trot five mile race on Thursday morning at Fort Lewis College.

More and more across the country, people are finding a way to work up their appetites on Turkey Day.

Durango is no different. In fact, around here, it’s nothing new, with the 25th annual Turkey Trot at Fort Lewis College.

Set for 10 a.m., Nov. 27, it will give runners a chance to earn all those calories in their pumpkin pies. The event – a 5-mile run that starts at the clock tower on campus and includes a 1 mile run for the kids – has become tradition.

In other parts of the nation, it’s the same story. In California, The Sacramento Appetite Enhancement Thanksgiving Day Bike Ride is in its 27th year. It ends with costumed riders riding their bikes straight into the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers. Nothing some warm stuffing can’t fix.

Buffalo, New York, boasts the oldest Thanksgiving Day race in U.S. history, at 119 years; but in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the original Plymouth – the first of 36 other cities named so in America – will hold its annual run down Old Sandwich Road, one of the oldest roads in the nation, to Sandwich, Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, Thanksgiving outings are growing in popularity. In Dallas, 35,000 people are expected to run before they gorge on sweet potatoes. Cycling events, walks and runs are ever adding up. Many health clubs are even opening for half days. In 2013, 870,000 people participated in some kind of Thanksgiving Day run, according to the website www.RunningUSA.org.

It’s not to late to sign up for Durango’s Turkey Day Trot, at http://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?eid=4650. Cost is $15, cheap compared with the $2.38 billion Americans spend on Thanksgiving food for the holiday.

bmathis@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments