Eating turkey, watching football and running 3.1 miles. Every year, more people are adding 5K turkey trot races to their list of Thanksgiving Day traditions.
Three different turkey trot races will be held Thanksgiving morning in Mercer County.
Mercer County Turkey Trot
The Sixth Annual Mercer County Turkey Trot returns to Mercer County Park on Thanksgiving morning, Nov. 22.
The 5K race begins at 8:30 a.m. from the west picnic area of the park. The walk and fun run will start immediately after the 5K.
The money raised during the event will benefit local food pantries, including Mercer Street Friends, TASK, the Catholic Diocese of Trenton, among others. Event organizers are also collecting non-perishable food items for donation to the pantries.
The Mercer County Turkey Trot raised more than $40,000 last year for local food banks.
For more information about the race, visit mercercountyturkeytrot.com.
Trinity Turkey Trot Princeton
More than 2,000 will head to downtown Princeton this year to run the Trinity Turkey Trot. The race starts and ends at Trinity Church — 33 Mercer St., Princeton — and winds through downtown Princeton, the university and many historic locations throughout town.
The race begins at 8:30 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. Last year’s race sold out, and the race website claims that this year’s race is also at capacity.
While you may not be able to run this year’s race, thousands of people will be in Princeton that morning to cheer on spectators and raise money and food donations for area food banks. For more information, visit trinityturkeytrot.org.
Hopewell Valley Turkey Trot
The Ninth Annual Hopewell Valley 5K Turkey Trot will be held Nov. 22 at 9 a.m. at Rosedale Park in Pennington. Event organizers claim the race is the largest cross country 5K in New Jersey, with more than 950 runners participating in last year’s race.
Register online at hopewellturkeytrot.org to reserve your spot. All entries received prior to race day will be entered into a prize wheel drawing.
Prizes and Thanksgiving pies will be awarded for the top overall male and female finishers, the top three in each age group, and the fastest runner in a turkey costume.
All proceeds benefit The Hopewell Valley Wrestling Association, a nonprofit supporting wrestling programs in the Hopewell Valley.
Runners at the 5th annual Mercer County Turkey Trot. (Facebook file photo.),
