Another Successful Wild Turkey Run!
Early Thanksgiving morning, nearly 1600 runners, volunteers and spectators took to the streets of Salem to start their holiday participating in the 19th Annual Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run!
On behalf of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, thank you to our participants for joining us for our 19th year. Your generosity and support of this annual event benefits youth programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, and for that we are truly thankful.
This year’s Wild Turkey Run was the largest race on the North Shore. We started in 2004 with 300 runners and had a high of 1961 runners in 2015. This event has become a great holiday tradition both for locals and visiting family members.
Some interesting statistics from this year’s Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run:
• For the 14th year in a row, women runners outnumbered men, 58.11% to 41.89%.
• Runner ages ranged from 7 years old to 80 years old!
• A blistering course record winning time of 23:25 was turned in by the first-place finisher, Andrew Ernst from Manchester by the Sea.
• The female winner was Courtney Kelly from Marblehead , in a time of 30:17.
• 10 Runners have completed all 19 Wild Turkey Runs!
• Competitors joined us from across the country, representing 22 states and Canada. The states include: Massachusetts, California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Maine, Texas, Pennsylvania, Vermont, South Carolina, Washington, Illinois and Washington D. C.
This great event could not be possible without the support of our community sponsors. Major sponsors include: New England Running Company, Institution for Savings, Pediatric Associates, Brooks Sports Co., Highland Dental Group, Peabody Essex Museum, Planet Fitness, Herrick Lutts Realty Partners, Marblehead Bank, A & A Services Home Improvement, Title Boxing Club – Danvers, KM Esthetics, Flykidz, Ashland Construction, Dunkin’, Perry & Perry Attorneys at Law, Salem Witch Museum, Johnson & O’Connor, Kaloutas Painting, John J. Walsh Insurance, Correnti & Darling LLP, SalemHaunts.net, and StephenOGrady.com.
Special gratitude to the many volunteers who donated their Thanksgiving morning and at the packet pickup to help out at the race: Beth O’Grady, Kelly and Mark Pheulpin, Ellen Talkowsky, Ilene Simons, Carole Donnelly, Grace and Josenny Duran, Joanne Scott, Tom St. Pierre, Barbara Marino, Beth Griffin, Kerry Phelan, Joanne Scott, Susan Gentile, Lynn Petronio, Domingo Dominquez, Robin Bernstein, Meghan Emmert, Lauren Gabel, Mary Herchenhahn, Alen Yen, Lisa Cammarata, Carol and Lee Libelo, Mara Mendelsohn , Debbie Everett, Susan Garvey, Socrates Trinidad, Savannah Muasya, Maryelis Bautista, Julissa Telemaco, Allia Cueto, Rainelys Fernandez, Jaycee Cruz, Paul Cranny, Dave Drillis, Theo Hackett, George Cui, Matt Lieberman, Kim Murtagh, Maria Orfanos, Dan Stanwood, Molly Jenkins, Mike Fitzgerald, Ginny and Elliot Donato and the kids from the Boys & Girls Club. Thanks also to the great cheering group from the Salem Willows neighborhood.
Special thanks to the Salem Police for controlling the traffic during the race to keep the runners safe, and to the many Salem residents along the route who cheered our runners on!
Again, thank you everyone for making this another successful Thanksgiving event!
Doug Bollen
Wild Turkey Race Director
Chief Advisor
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem