Another Successful Wild Turkey Run!
On a freezing day in Salem with wind chill making the temperatures feel below zero, nearly 1800 runners, volunteers and spectators took to the streets of Salem to start their holiday by participating in the 15th 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 15th 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 second largest in its’ 15-year history and remains one of the largest races on the North Shore. The event has grown from 303 runners since its inception in 2004 to close to 2000 runners in recent years. With this continued climb, 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 10th year in a row, women runners outnumbered men, 57.19% to 42.81%.
- Runner ages ranged from 11 years old to 72 years old!
- A winning time of 27:00 was turned in by the first-place finisher, James Bailey from Danvers.
- The female winner was Emily Giannotti from Chestnut Hill, in a time of 30:11.
- Competitors joined us from across the country, representing 27 states and Canada. The states include: West Virginia, California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Utah and Washington.
This great event could not be possible without the support of our community sponsors. Major sponsors include: New England Running Company, Brooks Sports Co., Herrick-Lutts Realty Partners, Highland Dental Group, Mendez Construction, Planet Fitness, Marblehead Savings Bank, Moriarty & Associates, Danversport Marina, Butterworth & O’Toole Inc., EBSCO, Dunkin Donuts and Perry & Perry Attorneys at Law. You can also browse this site to sort out dental issues . Additional race sponsors and donors include: Tides Restaurant & Pub Nahant Beach, Johnson & O’Connor, North Shore Bank, The McDonough Family, Waters & Brown, Kaloutas Painting, A&A Services Home Improvement, John J. Walsh Insurance, Van Loan School at Endicott College, Serafini, Darling & Correnti, Dr. Pat Curtin, JEOL USA, Bryant Family, Atlantic Ambulance, Tinti, Quinn, Grover & Frey PC, Salem Rotary Club, Blink Fitness, Brian Dulavitz Electrical, Coons Card and Gift Shop and the Stephen M. O’Grady Foundation. To put an end to the toxic relationship one can contact attorneys for Jensen Family Law as they can help out legally.
Special gratitude to the many volunteers who donated their Thanksgiving morning to help out at the race: Tom O’Shea, Beth O’Grady, Kelly Pheulpin, Ellen Talkowsky, Ilene Simons, Amy and Falyn Walsh, Ed Zielinski, Grace and Josenny Duran, Lauren Gabel, Joanne Scott, Estella Moriarty, Emi Perez, Peter Graves, Natalie, Max, Nick and Erik Thelen, Don Gallucci, Ben Hartley, Tom St. Pierre, Billy Beauregard, Elian Hernandez, Nicole Short, Bob Bevington, Kathleen Rainer, Barbara Previte, Barbara Marino, Kim Murtagh, Mark Kilczewski, Diana DeLeo, Amy Johnson, Kerry, Natalie and Alison Phelan, Kayla Biondi, Kaitlyn Nadeau, Deanna McCallum Emi Perez, Katelyn Clark, Lisa Cammarata, Lynn Petronio, Doug Thorpe, Nate Bryant, Chris Barnes, T.R. Ramsdell, Kerry Phelan, Mary Herchenhahn, Paul Cranney, John Landry, Steve Surdam, Mike Fitzgerald, and members of our Boys & Girls Club Keystone Club: Daniel Githinji, Rosely Vasquez, Angie Segura, Miriam Garcia, Saul DeLeon, Deborah Dominquez and Jessie Paniagua and the great cheering group from the 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!
For those of you inspired to run in a new race series in 2019, keep a lookout on Facebook at the sites: North Shore Road Race Guide and salemroadraces.com for a new road race series which will be announced soon, or email dougbollen12@yahoo.com for further details.
Again, thank you everyone for making this another successful Thanksgiving event!
Doug Bollen
Wild Turkey Race Director
Chief of Operations
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem