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Turkey Trot returns to Steamboat on Thanksgiving Day

Valerie White pushes along her children Ayla, 4, and Lawson, 2, during the 2014 Steamboat Springs Turkey Trot.
Ben Ingersoll

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — It’s the strollers that stand out to Lisa Renee Tumminello when she considers the annual Turkey Trot, a 5-kilometer “race” — more on the quotation marks in a second — that begins at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Sure, some do race, sprinting from the Steamboat Springs High School parking lot that serves as the start and finish area, deep into Strawberry Park, where the race winds, and back again, all along paved roads.

Most, however, are there to, as the name implies, trot, and it’s the Turkey Trot more than any other on the Steamboat Springs running calendar that brings out families from top to bottom, including seemingly dozens of strollers that are pushed along the route.



There’s plenty of reason to win. The top five finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions will get fresh pumpkin pies, perhaps lightening their workload for the looming meal.

But there’s plenty that keeps many others coming, as well.



“Part of that is we keep the prices so low, just to cover expenses and help raise a little money, and that allows families to register everyone, even if they have guests from out of town,” Tumminello said. “This gives families an opportunity to start their day together in a different kind of way.”

Registration for the event is available online at https://runsignup.com/Race/CO/SteamboatSprings/SteamboatSpringsTurkeyTrot until 4 p.m. Wednesday, costing $15 for adults 18 and older, $10 for children between 10 and 18 and $5 for children between 6 and 10. Those kids most likely to be populating the strollers will be free.

After online registration closes, people can still sign up on the day of run, starting at 8 a.m. outside the high school. That does cost a little more at $20 for adults and $10 for children.

The event is a fundraiser for the Steamboat Springs High School track and field and cross country teams, coached by Tumminello and which in recent seasons have grown into two of the largest programs at the school.

The track team brought home more medals than it has in decades last spring while the cross country team is fresh off its best state championships result in 25 years, a second-place team finish.

Tumminello said there’s a long list of ways to use money raised from the Turkey Trot, from uniforms to scholarships to stopwatches, but she said most of it goes to purchasing equipment such as starting blocks, pole vault poles, shot puts and discuses.

The teams will also be taking up food donations at the event, which will be dropped off at a local food bank afterward.

“It’s just such an incredible community event,” Tumminello said. “Last year, we had over 400 people, which may have been because there wasn’t that much snow on the mountain. But it was also a lot of amazing people who came out to show their support.”

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9.


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