Train with fellow students to complete a 5K in this year’s Turkey Trot
By Bridget Gum
Typically, each year around Thanksgiving, there is an event called the Turkey Trot which is a 5K, run or walk. However, because of the pandemic, the Turkey Trot will be hosted virtually.
This year, the Turkey Trot is organized by Rider’s recreation ambassador team. The first phase is a six week training period where participants practice and train for the distance and duration of a 5K.
The training period is, “designed to help build muscle strength and endurance,” according to the Turkey Trot’s BroncNation page. Next, participants will run a 5K from various locations either at home or on campus. There are multiple routes for participants to take that can be plotted from any location on Thanksgiving.
“Participants can enter our raffle for our grand prize of a $100 gift card to Dick’s Sporting Goods by posting pictures of their training sessions to our Instagram page at riderrecprograms. For every training session pic, you will be entered into our drawing,” says the BroncNation page. “All participants who complete a 5K course, either their own or the 5K course we have mapped out on campus, will receive our Turkey Trot T-shirt.”
Historically, the Turkey Trot is hosted in various cities across the country. Each city has different sponsors and chooses to donate to a different charity each year through the participant’s fees to run the 5k as well as extra donations from local stores and participants.
This year, along with having the Turkey Trot and its donations, the Office of Recreation Programs at Rider is encouraging students to donate money to their annual Thanksgiving Basket Drive. They are currently serving three non-profits including Lawrence Community Center, which provides many social services to the homeless community, Women’s Space, which helps people who have experienced domestic and sexual violence, and Mill Hill Family and Child Development Center, which services abused and neglected children in Trenton.
Jamie Norgard, a junior psychology major, is participating in the Turkey Trot for the first time this year. Norgard has been training for the Turkey Trot since she found out about it earlier this year. The 5K can be done anytime during Thanksgiving week from Nov. 20-26.
Norgard has been training with her friend and said, “I definitely am more motivated to do it. Because of quarantine and everything. But I think I still would have done it regardless.”
Students can register to participate in this year’s Turkey Trot 5K via a Google Form on the BroncNation page. The training program and 5K will be being held from Oct. 16 through Nov. 30.
