Several thousand people poured into Riverside Park bright and early Thanksgiving morning for the 11th annual Thanksgiving Day 5K Trot Against Poverty. Affectionately known as the Turkey Trot, participants in the hugely popular event come to share their good fortune by helping to provide a happier holiday for the hundreds of individuals and families assisted by United Against Poverty.
There was a joyful air of camaraderie, as close to 2,000 runners and walkers – many in Thanksgiving or turkey-themed headwear and costumes – were joined by hundreds more of their friends and family members in what organizers say is now the largest 5K Run/Walk on the Treasure coast. It’s a true family affair, from babies pushed in strollers to seniors keeping pace with participants half their age.
An army of volunteers had arrived in the pre-dawn hours to get everything in order before the crowds begin to arrive. Everyone does their part in the collaborative community effort, from the George E. Warren Corporation, which led the generous sponsorship pack, to the always efficient Runners Depot race coordinators, the pre- and post-race banter of Treasure and Space Coast Radio’s Hamp Elliott and the numerous contributors to the post-race breakfast, sponsored by National Bank of Commerce.
“Thank you for coming out to do some good before you eat your Thanksgiving dinner,” said Annabel Robertson, UP executive director, before she and Phillip Keeling, executive coordinator, led the crowd in a chicken dance – turkey style.
Just prior to that, young gobblers under age 6 had garnered cheers from onlookers as they eagerly showed off their best racing attempts in the always adorable children’s ¼-mile race.
As the theme from “Rocky” blared from speakers, the more serious runners took off like a shot, trailed by a huge line of joggers and walkers, many with four-legged companions loping happily by their sides.
Well before the race began, Chef Cassandra & Company’s Cassandra Valdez, assisted by Dale Leatherman and their daughters, Lia Nacian and Belle Leatherman, had begun cooking upwards of 3,000 aromatic sweet potato pancakes from gallons of batter whipped up by Marsh Landing, and about the same number of sausage links.
“I’m doing it to inspire my daughter to give back to the community,” said Valdez. “There are people out there who do not have families; do not have food.”
“It grows every year. It gets better and better because we learn from our mistakes,” said Robertson with a laugh. “It’s a great race, a great cause, a great community tradition.”
A ‘social media’ photo area near the stage also held a ‘What I’m thankful for’ chalkboard, which Robertson said they will photograph and add to their collection.
“Our hope with a lot of this is to promote social media, which is becoming such a large part of the way the word gets out. It’s one of the reasons we have ‘Tom’ that people can take pictures with,” said Robertson pointing to the enormous Tom Turkey balloon, sponsored by Vatland Honda. “We’re really appreciative of that. We’ve had him out and about around town for the last month.”
First place Turkey Trot winner was Bailey Yoerin of Vero Beach at 16:26.23; women’s first place winner was Sydney Settle of Kentucky, at 18.35.91.
The mission of United Against Poverty is to “inspire and empower people living in poverty to lift themselves and their families to economic self-sufficiency. They recently entered Phase II of a multi-million dollar Lifting Lives out of Poverty capital campaign that will enable the organization to consolidate all of its programs, plus some from collaborating partners, in their New UP Center, a 46,000 square-foot building just east of the Indian River County Administration Center.
For more information, visit UnitedAgainstPoverty.org.
Photos by Denise Ritchie
