73rd Troy Turkey Trot sports new virtual features amid pandemic
TROY, N.Y. » The Troy Turkey Trot is going virtual this year. As with many other road race events, including the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon, the 2020 edition has not been immune from the COVID-19 global health pandemic. Yet, event organizers have gotten creative to ensure that all the trimmings and traditions are together, even if we’re all apart.
According to Event Director George Regan,
participants have the opportunity to utilize a virtual app created by the New York Road Runners Club, which is used for the New York City Marathon. The RTRT or real-time racing technology enables participants to run the Troy Turkey Trot course with GPS.
The app tracking also allows for awards for the family 5K, corporate teams, and individuals. Regan also noted that people will have the window of Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26 to Nov. 28 at 11 p.m., to run or walk but are asking participants to start at the traditional time of 10 a.m. so that everyone can start together. Leading up to the event, there will be a live stream on the Troy Turkey Trot Facebook page providing live reports and a leaderboard as well.
Organizers will post unofficial results on Sunday, Nov. 29. Plus the traditional costume contest will still be held with prizes. Another interactive aspect will be a finish line selfie contest.
“2020 has been an undeniably tough year for us in so many ways. One aspect, in particular, was the loss of somany of our cherished traditions and customs that bring us together, shoulder to shoulder to enjoy sports, music or food all sorts of entertainment but we are adapting,” Troy Mayor Patrick Madden remarked on what has been a challenging year.
“I’m delighted that we were able to find a way to continue our long-standing tradition of the Troy Turkey Trot. The virtual format won’t give us an identical experience to last year but in some ways, it does present us with some new and exciting options,” Madden added on the different format.
As another fun twist, Troy, N.Y. will also be joined virtually by participants in other Troy cities and towns across the country.
The event, which started in 1916 as a way to welcome back World War I veterans, was run 16 times between 1916 and 1963. Aside from an 18-inch snowstorm in 1971, it has run essentially continuously from 1964. This year marks the 104th anniversary and 73rd running of the race as well.
“This is about family. This is about tradition for me and one of the reasons I’m so committed to this and clearly, to support these two great charities we have, you know hunger and homelessness, you wouldn’t think that that would ever be a problem of a community in our age and time but in fact, it is,” Regan remarked on the fun tradition and it’s importance to the community.
That community support has remained strong, even during these trying times.
“I’m happy to announce, with nine days to go we just surpassed 2,000 entries. What’s even more important and gratifying for me is that we are at 90% of contributions fromour participants to our charities, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and Joseph’s House & Shelter,” Regan exclaimed on the strong spirit of giving.
Representatives from those organizations, Kevin O’Connor, executive director of Joseph’s House & Shelter, and Mark Quandt, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, spoke to the significance of that support for their respective organizations.
“Last year we served 2,000 men, women, and children in all of our services,” O’Connor said.
“We’re at the intersection of a lot of things, we’ve got the pandemic going on, we have the continued issues with the opioid and fentanyl epidemics that are going on in our community, we’ve had an uptick in gun violence in some of the neighborhoods that we’re very active in and we’re having timely discussions about race and racial justice. It’s been an interesting year, I’m very proud of our staff who have shown up every day,” O’Connor explained on the numerous challenges this year has presented for their organization.
O’Connor went on to note that Joseph’s House & Shelter is serving twice asmany people on the streets as the year prior, helping 900 unique individuals this year compared to 500 last year. O’Connor adds the money donated will go toward extra staffing, which will help as their staff outreach has extended from eight to 12 hours per day.
“It’s been as with everybody, a very unique challenging year for us,” Quant said.
Quant noted their food distribution is up 40% compared to last year with 55 million pounds of food delivered, which equates to 46 million meals distributed through member agencies.
“The need has skyrocketed. Right after the pandemic hit and shut everything down, schools were closed, businesses were closed, we knew that thingswere going to change quickly,” Quandt explained.
“Immediately we started getting calls from municipalities and counties and a lot of other groups in certain areas that recognize that a lot of people were out of work, a lot of people needed help and a lot of help with food assistance,” Quandt added regarding the widespread need throughout the community.
Quandt went on to note his organization has set up more than 100 drive-thru pantries since the start of the pandemic, especially at low-income senior living units. Plus, they have distributed more than one million pounds of food to at least 235 schools through their backpack program.
According to Regan, last year the race raised $15,000 through participants and was matched by $2,500 from sponsors.
If you’d like to register for the race and donate, you may do so by going to troyturkeytrot.com.
If you’ve registered by Nov. 1, you may pick up your swag on Sunday and Wednesday via drive-thru at the Italian Community Center. Those who registered after Nov. 1 may do so in early December. Those out of town participants will have all of their racing swag mailed out to them.