A brilliant rainbow at early morning course-marking time heralded interesting weather for the 28th Annual Turkey Trot. By race time, a heavy downpour had passed through and it was raining steadily and 55 degrees. As the runners gathered at the start, thunder was heard, and continued to rumble for the duration of the race, with the rain continuing, the temperature dropping to 45 degrees and a strong north wind kicking up. Despite the weather, 321 people finished the race and cheerful Thanksgiving spirits won the day. The race director was thankful that everyone finished the race safely. Donations totaled $1,000 cash and 825 pounds of food for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. Runners ranged in age from 6 to 74 and hailed from all over the United States as well as Canada and the Czech Republic.  Matt Lane of Palo Alto, CA, a two-time 4th-place finisher at the US Olympic Trials in the 5000 meters, covered the puddly course in a blistering 14:49:63. He was followed in by Ricardo Santos of New Rochelle, NY, in 16:14:11 and Brian Mongeon in 16:33:74. Huntington's Kasie Enman was the first woman finisher in 18:08:27, with a nearly two-minute lead over Aliza Lapierre of Burlington (19:58:35) and Cindy New of Montreal (20:10:14). Fierce competition at the front end of the race (56 runners finished in under 22 minutes) gave way to families and friends running together and ushering each other over the finish line. Several walkers completed the soggy trek, with the last finisher breaking into a run to squeak in just under one hour. A few runners arrived late but got their run in anyway, including former State Senator Dennis Delaney, who arrived bright and early but napped a little too long in his truck, awaking to find that the runners had already departed. Dave Fields, sporting a GMAA singlet, completed his fifth full year of GMAA races, remarking that when his streak started, there were 17 inches of snow at the Turkey Trot.

A historical footnote to underscore the quality time Matt Lane ran - 2nd place finisher Ricardo Santos was the 2002 Rollin Irish Half Marathon winner, also in an incredible time - 1:11:43. For someone of that speed to be almost a minute and a half behind the leader in a 5K means the leader was really moving!

Many thanks to intrepid volunteers Gordon Macfarland, Dave Fields, Sean Murphy, Matt Czaplinski, John Treadwell and Bobby Treadwell. Thanks also to women's 3rd-place finisher Cindy New, who after completing her own fast 5K ran back around the course to make sure all the kids were safe. Thank you to Hannaford (Dorset St.), Williams-Sonoma (Burlington Town Center) and Maplehurst Florist (Church St.) for generous donations of free or discounted prizes and supplies. And thanks to everyone who came out on a pretty miserable day to support the Food Shelf and have a fun run!
--Anne Treadwell

Link to race photos