A Big Wild Turkey Thank You!
On a snow blanketed Thanksgiving morning in Salem, over 1700 runners, volunteers and spectators took to the streets of Salem to start their holiday by participating in the 11th Annual Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem.
On behalf of the Boys & Girls Club, thank you to all of our sponsors and runners. Your generosity and support of this annual event benefits programs for our Club members, and for that we are truly thankful.
The Wild Turkey 5 Mile Run remains the largest race on the North Shore, and has firmly taken its place as a traditional Thanksgiving event in the City of Salem.
Some interesting statistics from this year’s Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run: For the 8th year in a row, women runners outnumbered men, 60% to 40%. Runner ages ranged from 7 to 75 years old, and 21 runners have participated all eleven years of its existence! The winning time of 25:30 was turned in by the first place finisher, Jordon Williams, from Australia and Villanova University. The female winner was Kylynn McKinley from Marblehead, in a time of 31:26. Competitors joined us from across the country, representing the states of Alabama, West Virginia, California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania and Washington.
This great event could not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Major sponsors include: New England Running Company, Brooks Sports Co., Ernst & Young, Butterworth & O’Toole Inc., Dunkin Donuts, the Woolfenden Family Fund and Perry & Perry Attorneys at Law.
Additional race sponsors and donors include: www.salemroadraces.com, The McDonough Family, North Shore Road Race Guide, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Clarke Brothers Fuel, Boston Herald, Salem Moose Family Center, Beverly Bank, Kaloutas Painting, John J. Walsh Insurance, East Boston Savings Bank, Serafini, Darling & Correnti, KW-Paul Herrick Group Realtors, Honest Tea, St. Jeans Credit Union, LeClair Dental, Body & Soul Massage, Dr. Pat Curtin, Danversport Yacht Club, Atlantic Ambulance, Rooter-Man and StephenOGrady.com.
Special gratitude to the many volunteers who donated their Thanksgiving morning to help out at the race and on the course: Tom O’Shea, Ellen Talkowsky, Beth O’Grady, Mara Mendelsohn, Melissa and Ilene Simons, Debbie Everett, Laura Knight, Valerie Lajoie, Amy Walsh, Pat Chasse, Natalie and Erik Thelen, Grace Duran, Elvis Alvarez, Mark Deluca, Dawn Cobak, Ann Burk, Katherine Campbell, Shannon O’Donnell, Peter Raymond, Lisa DiBella, Adam Fitch, Sue Keezer, Donna Deschenes, Peter Bartholomew, Ed Zielinski, Meghan Murtagh, Ben Hartley, Adam Finch, Melissa Barker, Tom St. Pierre, Lisa Cammarata, TR Ramsdell, Kerry and Natalie Phelan, Dave Gilbert, Sandy George, Patsy Emberley, Paul Cranney, Dave Drillis and the great cheering group from the Willows. Special Thanks to Gif Campbell for the great photography of the race!
Special thanks to the Salem Police who did a great job of 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.
For those of you inspired to sign up for the 2015 New England Running Company/Brooks Road Race Series, see salemroadraces.com or email dougbollen12@yahoo.com soon so you can join us for the first race of 2015 on New Year’s Day: The Frosty Four.
Again, thank you to everyone for making this a great Thanksgiving Day event!
Doug Bollen
Wild Turkey Race Director
Chief of Operations
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem