Squeezed by the now-official recession, more Americans stayed home for Thanksgiving, possibly giving rise to the surge in participation in the nation's Thanksgiving Day races, widely known as "turkey trots." An exclusive survey of some of the largest turkey trots by Race Results Weekly showed that participation was up sharply over last year, as measured by the actual number of race finishers. Several races recorded strong double-digit percentage gains.
In Manchester, Conn., the Manchester Road Race recorded 10,426 finishers, up 10% from 9,478 last year. In Atlanta, the Weather Channel Atlanta Marathon & Half-Marathon recorded 9,427 finishers, up 36% from 6905 last year. In Cincinnati, the 99th edition of the Thanksgiving Day 10-K had 11,535 finishers, up 9% from last year. Even the oldest Thanksgiving Day race in the country, the 113th Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot 8-K in Buffalo, N.Y., saw finishers boom 33% to 9,098 from 6,826 last year.
The largest turkey trot in the nation was the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services Run to Feed the Hungry. The two-race festival incorporating a 10-K, which had an elite field and prize money, and a less-competitive 5-K, recorded 20,775 total finishers (5,783 in the 10-K and 14,992 in the 5-K). While this represents an explosive increase from the 5,712 finishers recorded last year, race officials explained that they only began timing all finishers this year.
"In the past, we have given our participants the option of being timed or not," explained race director Rich Hanna in an e-mail message. "This year we gave every pre-registered entrant a timing tag."
The race had over 28,000 entrants, Hanna said.
Here is a representative sample of a dozen of America's largest turkey trots with year-over-year changes in finishers, presented in descending order of 2008 finishers:
| | 2007 | 2008 | % Change |
| Sacramento Food Bank Run to Feed the Hungry (CA) | 5,712 | 20,775 | +263%* |
| Thanksgiving Day 10-K (Cincinnati, OH) | 10,611 | 11,535 | +9% |
| Manchester Race, Manchester (CT) | 9,478 | 10,426 | +10% |
| Weather Channel Atlanta Mar. & Half-Mar. (GA) | 6,905 | 9,427 | +36% |
| Fifth Third Bank Turkey Trot 5-K & 10-K (Detroit, MI) | 5,194 | 9,198 | +77% |
| Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot 8-K (Buffalo, NY) | 6,826 | 9,098 | +33% |
| Dana Point Turkey Trot 5-K & 10-K (CA) | 8,196 | 7,198 | -12% |
| Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 8 Mile (TX) | 4,152 | 7,174 | +73% |
| Synaptics Elite 5-K & Applied Materials 5-K & 10-K^ | 3,288 | 6,356 | +93% |
| Mile High United Way Turkey Trot (Denver, CO) | 5,019 | 5,215 | +4% |
| Feaster 5 km (Andover, MA) | 4,310 | 4,445 | +3% |
| Pequot Runner's Thanks. Day 5 Mi. (Southport, CT) | 2,956 | 3,311 | +12% |
*Not all finishers recorded last year
^San Jose, CA
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