TURKEY TROT PARTICIPATION FLAT THIS YEAR
By David Monti
(c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - used with permission
After
a 22% surge last year, participation in American Thanksgiving Day races
was flat this year, an exclusive Race Results Weekly analysis found.
Although three out of four of the 20 well-established "turkey trots"
surveyed showed growth in finishers, two large races in Cincinnati and
Denver posted big declines, nearly erasing the gains made by the other
events.
Total finishers for the 20 races in 15 states grew by
just 0.4% or 581 finishers, from 2009. An increase of 9,446 finishers
from the 15 races which grew, was mostly offset by a decline of 6,971
from the Thanksgiving Day 10-K in Cincinnati, Ohio. (down 4,788) and
the Mile High United Way Turkey Trot 4 Mile in Denver (down 2,183).
Participation was depressed at the Cincinnati event because the 2009
edition was the 100th jubilee edition of the race which drove up
finishers last year, and persistent and heavy rain right up to race
time this year. The turnout at the Denver event was at least partially
depressed by very cold and windy weather.
The event showing the
largest gain in the number of finishers in the survey was reported by
the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in San Jose, Calif., a
multi-race festival which featured 5-K and 10-K races for everyday
runners, plus elite 5-K races for professionals and top regional
athletes. Participation surged 29.4% at that event from 8,849 last
year to 11,118 this year. This event also showed the largest
percentage gain.
Healthy increases were also reported by the
Turkey Day 5-K in Charleston, S.C. (up 27.4% to 5,308 finishers),
Turkey Trot 8-K in Chicago (up 14.4% to 5,679), and the Alexandria PWBA
Turkey Trot 5 Mile in Alexandria, Va. (up 19.7% to 3,472 finishers).
The
two oldest events in the survey, the 115th Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot
8-K in Buffalo, N.Y., and the 74th Manchester Road Race 4.748 Mile in
Manchester, Conn., both showed increases. The Buffalo event was up 1%
to 11,044 finishers and the Manchester race grew 11.2% to 13,391.
As
a group, Thanksgiving Day races are amongst the oldest in the United
States. Only four American road races have been held at least 100
times, according to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, and
three of them are held on Thanksgiving Day. Besides the Cincinnati and
Buffalo races, the Run for the Diamonds in Berwick, Pa., was also held
for the 101st time. With just 1566 finishers, it was not included in
the survey, but showed a decrease of 419 finishers from last year.
There
are over 300 turkey trots in the United States, according to the race
registration website Active.com, so the Race Results Weekly survey must
be considered only a sample.
Here is our sample of 20 of
America's largest well-established turkey trots with year-over-year
changes in finishers, presented in descending order of 2010 finishers
(data best viewed with a fixed-pitch font like Courier):
-- Finishers --
Event 2009 2010 Change % Change
Manchester Road Race 4.78M, (CT) 12,037 13,391 1,354 11.2%
Fifth Third Bank Turkey Trot^ (Detroit, MI) 12,463 12,847 384 3.1%
Applied Materials S.V. Turkey Trot^ (San Jose, CA) 8,649 11,188 2,539 29.4%
Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot 8-K (Buffalo, NY) 10,932 11,044 112 1.0%
Thanksgiving Day 10-K (Cincinnati, OH) 15,511 10,723 -4,788 -30.9%
Atlanta Half-Marathon (GA) 8,578 8,866 288 3.4%
Dana Point Turkey Trot^ (CA) 9,225 8,696 -529 -5.7%
Feaster 5-K & 8-K^ (Andover, MA) 7,708 8,284 576 7.5%
Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 8M/5-K^ (TX) 6,965 6,105 -860 -12.3%
Turkey Trot 8-K (Chicago, IL) 4,965 5,679 714 14.4%
Troy Turkey Trot^ (Troy, NY) 5,312 5,616 304 5.7%
Turkey Day 5-K (Charleston, SC) 4,165 5,308 1,143 27.4%
Mile High United Way Turkey Trot 4M (Denver, CO) 7,445 5,262 -2,183 -29.3%
Charlotte Turkey Trot 8-K (NC) 3,742 4,300 558 14.9%
Pequot Runner's Thanksgiving Day 5 Mile (Southport, CT) 3,800 3,980 180 4.7%
YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase Turkey Chase (MD) 4,326 3,821 -505 -11.7%
Alexandria PWBA Turkey Trot 5 Mile (VA) 2,900 3,472 572 19.7%
Garden City Turkey Trot 5-Miler (NY) 2,946 3,168 222 7.5%
Port Washington Thanksgiving Day Run (NY) 1,896 2,268 372 19.6%
Portland Thanksgiving Day 4 Miler (ME) 1,521 1,649 128 8.4%
------ ------ ------ --------
TOTALS 135,086 135,667 581 0.4%
__________
^Multi-race festivals where finishers have been combined
ENDS