Community fun on the run
Annual turkey-themed runs go virtual to keep family tradition alive
While thoughts of Thanksgiving often conjure up images of food that is synonymous with the holiday, for some it’s also a day to put in some miles before feasting. Two annual turkey-themed wellness events coming up this month are designed to be fun for the whole family and take some of the guilt out of going for a second helping.
“Thanksgiving is the number one road racing day in America,” said Larry Rechtin, race director for Pottstown’s 10th Annual Toss Your Turkey 5K. “You go out and you exercise and feel good.”
While the pandemic has put a kink in some community runs taking place in a traditional manner, event organizers have figured out a way to keep them alive by going virtual.
“We wanted to keep the event because it has become a family tradition,” said Charlene Wysocki, race director of Boyertown’s 5th annual Virtual Turkey Trot run/walk. “With so much getting canceled, we thought it would be a fun day for people to share how they participated in the Turkey Trot.”
Rechtin, the head cross country coach for Pottsgrove High School, started the Toss Your Turkey event a decade ago along with his assistant coach at the time, Marilyn Eaton.
“Ten years ago we started it as a fundraiser for our team and as a charity for our community,” he said, adding they typically have 600 to 700 runners participate in the 5K run.
Passion for wellness
Wysocki, who is the Wellness Council Coordinator of Wellness Council of Boyertown Area MultiService, started the event five years ago when the Boyertown Senior High School stopped having a football game on Thanksgiving. She co-founded the Wellness Council in 2004.
“Barbara Furman, a retired PE teacher at Boyertown, and I both had a passion for wellness and decided to start this,” Wysocki said, referring to the Wellness Council that recently merged with Boyertown Area Multi-Service.
When they started the Turkey Trot five years ago, they decided to have it in honor of the late Cliff Reigner, who was a resident of Boyertown.
“He was a huge supporter of all Boyertown sporting events and he passed away several years ago,” Wysocki said. “We still honor him with our race in his memory since he was such a supporter of our community.”
Community wellness-themed events
In addition to the Turkey Trot, the Wellness Council of Boyertown Area Multi-Service organizes other community wellness-themed events for all ages who live in and around the community including monthly ‘senior bingo walking’ and a spring wellness fair.
Like the Toss Your Turkey event, Wysocki has seen the Turkey Trot become more and more of a family event over the years. Last year, 450 participated and they come from near and far. Ages of participants have ranged from age 7 to 70s.
“We had 12 or 13 states represented since people come home for the holidays,” she said.
The way it works for both races is that participants get a certain amount of days leading up to and including Thanksgiving day to do a route of their choice. They can run anywhere they like, at any time they would like.
For the Toss Your Turkey event, they will be marking out the actual Riverfront Park course for those who might like to take the route that was initially planned prior to the pandemic.
“People can do it on their own and they can send their results into the website at any time,” Rechtin said.
Pandemic-themed masked turkey T-shirts
Both races will also be offering baggies for entrants filled with goodies such as an event T-shirt, race bibs and more.
The Turkey Trot is guaranteeing the first 250 people who sign up will get T-shirts and a multi-colored medal. There is a pandemic-themed masked turkey on their Tshirt this year, a nod to the times we are living in.
In addition to long-sleeved Tshirts also with a masked turkey logo, Toss Your Turkey is offering everyone a neck buff with their turkey logo on it that Rechtin said can double as a COVID mask.
Both events will be awarding prizes and the Turkey Trot is doing a raffle to win family-themed gift baskets. Toss Your Turkey has two prizes planned.
“One for best turkey outfit and another for the largest number of a family that races,” Rechtin said, adding they offer pricing discounts for families.
No tossing of the turkey this year
One part of the tradition that gave the Toss Your Turkey event its name won’t be taking place this year. Typically there is tossing of actual frozen turkeys, but due to abiding by safety measures and the virtual nature of the event, nobody will get the chance to see how far they can throw one this year.
In previous years, Rechtin said that members of the Pottsgrove cross country team hammed it up in costume during the toss portion of the event. They have also donated baked goods in the past, another aspect of the event that won’t be taking place this year.
Worthy cause
A portion of funds raised for previous years and this year goes to a worthy cause. Toss Your Turkey donates some proceeds to Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities meals and shelter programs. The Turkey Trot proceeds benefit Boyertown Area Multi-Service’s programs, such as their senior center and Meals on Wheels.
Both races encourage entrants to dress in turkey costumes and to post pictures of themselves on their respective Facebook pages on Thanksgiving day. But the race is about more than dressing festive and getting in a workout. Rechtin emphasized the importance of this event to the community and he isn’t going to let the pandemic dampen the opportunity for friends and family to do something they have enjoyed doing over the years.
“I wanted to keep this tradition alive because it is valuable and meaningful to people,” Rechtin said.
Wysocki, who also ran the race last year with her two daughters in addition to organizing it, referred to the Turkey Trot as a “feel good” event for the community.
“People feel, ‘if I get out there and get some good exercise, I can have that extra piece of pumpkin pie’,” she said. “People really enjoy coming out.”