Thursday morning, thousands of families in the Fox Valley heard the sounds of things bustling in the kitchen and smells wafting through the house in anticipation of the Thanksgiving feast that was to come later on.
For Adam Erickson of St. Charles, there was something else he and his family and friends had to do first.
“I did this last year. It was fun to run through the neighborhoods and see the people out on the driveways. We’ll see if they are out there today as it’s a little cooler,” Erickson said as he and his family waited to take part in the annual The Fox and the Turkey Thanksgiving races in Batavia. “My daughters have gotten into running and cross country. It’s kind of a fun thing to do as a family to start the day. I can see this as a continuing family tradition.”
Beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Houston Street in downtown Batavia, the 28th annual The Fox and the Turkey races hosted by the Fox River Trail Runners group took off once again, bringing well over 1,700 runners to the site.
A one-mile youth race began first, followed by the adult four-mile race which began 45 minutes later.
The event again served as a fundraiser for the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry, which received $5 for each four-mile runner registered in the race. Last year’s event netted over $16,000 for the pantry, an amount that organizers said they were hoping to reach again.
This year’s race director Jock Cameron, 63, of Batavia, said registration began in the summer and that “at least 40 to 50 have been registering per day” as race day got closer.
“We always have registration the days before the race as people are watching the weather,” Cameron said.
Last year’s race attracted a runner from England who received an award for the entrant who had traveled the farthest.
“We know we have runners from both the east and the west coast” as well as hundreds from throughout the area who come back year after year, Cameron said.
“People come back because we’ve got the two races for kids and then adults,” he said. “The Fox River Trail Runners promotes racing and a healthy lifestyle throughout the area and one of the things we have done is we have a youth organization called The Accelerators. It helps kids find a place to compete and run, and so we offer the youth mile race. People do it as a family event with the kids running and then the parents compete.”
Cameron said new this year was a finisher medal with a fox and a turkey on it which everyone would receive. Other awards included those for the top three overall male and female finishers in the four-mile race as well as top three male and female finishers for those 40 years old and older not in the overall top three.
There were also awards for more than a dozen age groups ranging from 14 years old and younger to 75 and over.
Gary Smith was one of those distant travelers who came to run in the event.
“I actually live in Florida and I have in-laws up here in Oswego,” Smith explained before his race. “This is an opportunity for me to run with my nephew. I’m actually more of a swimmer but this is just a recreational opportunity for me. My strategy is to finish and earn some turkey today.”
Smith’s nephew Sahel Torres, 15, of Montgomery, was sporting a cross-country sweatshirt and said he competes on the team at his high school.
“I’m not worried about freezing. I’m happy to run,” Torres said about the chilly morning. “I’ve been on cross-country for two years. My strategy is to just have fun.’
Yuka Votaw of St. Charles said she was volunteering at the event but that her daughter was going to run in the kids’ race, something she has done the past two years.
“This is her third race and so far, she’s done really well,” Votaw said. “I didn’t have to drag her. She wanted to come again. I’m glad she likes to do this.”
Rachael Morrison of Huntley, 23, was clearly one of the more serious runners noting that “I started in eighth grade, went through all of high school and five years of college.”
“I just graduated. I’m going to try and do well here. I haven’t done a turkey trot in years,” she said. “I’ve been running cross-country which was why I didn’t do this. I’m training for the Chicago Marathon for next year and have been doing some small races leading up to that. I just love racing. It’s really fun.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
