The Recreational Eagle Center (REC) held the 29th annual Turkey Trot on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The event featured a 5-kilometer race along with other fun activities for students and families.
The 5K race began at 9 a.m., and over a thousand people lined up behind the starting line as the mascots Flash, Stryker and Subman hyped up the crowd. Some people were dressed with festive hats, onesies and tutus making an appearance.
Peter Kopperud, UWL student and marketing and events supervisor at the REC, said, “I see a lot of families, and they dress up, and that’s really inspiring to see something that we worked so hard to put together be a memory for people…I love seeing different people come together and be able to run, walk, trot, however they want to get it done together.”
The event was such a success, they ran out of running bibs for the participants. So many people registered the day of, there weren’t enough tracking bibs for all of the runners.
This was not always the case. During the first few years of the Turkey Trot, less than a hundred people ran the race.
Associate Director for Programs with REC Sports Nathan Barnhart said, “I have been involved for 26 of the 29 years. My first year, it was a five-mile race. The route started by Mitchell [Hall] and turned and went into the community…Once we changed it to a 5K… that’s when our numbers started shooting up.”
This year there were plenty of activities for the Turkey Trotters to participate in before and after the race. Flash’s Fun Zone consisted of coloring pages, crafts, cornhole and other lawn games and activities.
Post-race snacks and refreshments were provided by Subway and Bubbl’r, and there was a basket raffle with items donated by numerous other sponsors.
The Junior Gobbler Gallop was also held and consisted of a sprint for the young ones about the length of a basketball court and a half mile run for the older kids up on the track. Plenty of kids walked and ran the 5K and a few took a ride in their strollers. For some people, it’s a family tradition with participants returning year after year to run the race.
“We’ve been doing it for so long that we have a number of people that got pushed in a stroller before they could even run or walk, then did the Junior Gobbler races, then did the 5K and are now bringing their kids to it, which is wild,” said Barnhart.
The Turkey Trot brings in a lot of engagement from the community, making it a big event not only for UWL students on campus, but for the whole community of La Crosse.
“It’s a great way for campus to connect with the community,” said Kopperud. “It’s not just students running it, and that’s something we want to emphasize because oftentimes we think a lot of events on campus feel kind of closed off to the community, but this is a nice way to break that norm,” said Kopperud.
Plenty of students do participate in the race, and a lot of students volunteer for the Turkey Trot, too, with the majority of the volunteers coming from the UWL student body.
Over 60 volunteers are needed on the weekend of the Turkey Trot. Some are posted along the race route while others are needed for set up, take down, registration and all of the other activities held on the big day.
The student volunteers are not the only students helping out. Kopperud and Samantha Wendt, the student coordinator for marketing and events at the REC, along with their team of student employees were the backbone of the entire event.
Starting months in advance, they began reaching out to sponsors, finding volunteers for the event, designing the Turkey Trot logo for the shirts and posters, creating promotional social media posts and coordinating numerous other details for the Turkey Trot.
“It’s the biggest event [REC Sports] does, so we put a lot of effort into it, and many people are surprised that it’s mainly students working on it,” said Kopperud.
All of the proceeds from the race come back to the students. The money supports scholarships and student development for the student employees at REC Sports.
“[The Turkey Trot] is a great opportunity for the community and campus to come together before Thanksgiving and to promote healthy lifestyles while also supporting a noble cause,” said Wendt. “One of the best parts is seeing the start of the race, and everyone is just behind the start line, and you’re like wow, you just put on that event for all of these people, and they’re actually enjoying it.”
Now that the event is over and everyone has crossed the finish line, the REC Sports staff will begin to look towards the Turkey Trot next year. They aim to bring the community together so that Turkey Trotters can enjoy themselves year after year.
