Turkey Trot proceeds to go toward a new Ocracoke School gym floor
Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
The fun was apparent on Thanksgiving morning as runners and walkers from on and off Ocracoke assembled outside 1718 Brewing Ocracoke for the 9th annual Turkey Trot.
Some wore matching shirts, some wore funny holiday hats, a few ran with their dogs. One islander dressed as a cob of corn.
This year, the most ever, at 193, signed up to run the 5K through Ocracoke Village, said Angie Todd, race director, but only 152 finished.
Dashing over the finish line first was Shea Woods, 18, of Huntington Valley, Pa., with a time of 16:57 minutes.
Denis Dominguez of Ocracoke followed close behind at 17:07 minutes.
Samuel Loyack of Durham came in third overall at 19:56.
Katja Weber, 22, of Durham, was the top female runner and 15th overall with a time of 24:52.
This was her fourth year running to try to keep pace with her brother, Alexander, 18, who finished ninth at 22:39.
“It’s been super fun watching it grow,” Katja said as she caught her breath.
Duncan McClain, 12, was the first kid to cross the finish line, and 11th overall, with a time of 23:40.
Corbin Futrell, 5, was among the youths participating and finished with a time of 43:18.
“My legs feel so tired,” he yelled as he went with his twin brother and mother Chelsea to recover. “Why did I do that?”
Others, like Rachael Chestnut, who wore the corn-cob costume and walked along with her husband, Robert, were not in it for the competition.
Her time?
“Fun time!” she said.
Charlotte Sussman, 58, of Durham was in the race for the ninth time, although her first time, which was the first race nine years ago, wasn’t official.
She was just out for a morning run on Thanksgiving nine years ago.
“People were clapping and yelling at me that I was doing great,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Wow. This is a really friendly place.’”
The first several trots were true fun runs and three years ago they began to employ race professionals Run the East, the same company that times the Scallywag 5K/10K/half-marathon in April, to make the trot times official.
Prizes for the winners are various holiday pies, a tradition that began with the first trot.
“It’s incredible what it’s grown into,” Todd said. “Last year was the first year we made this into a fundraiser.”
Proceeds of the event, in which runners paid $35 each, will go toward replacing the Ocracoke School gym floor, Todd, who is also chair of the Hyde County Schools Board of Education, said.
But at this rate, it will take decades to pay for a new floor, which will cost about $100,000, she said.
The current floor was installed after the Hurricane Dorian flood Sept. 6, 2019, and it suffices, but it has a lot of dead spaces, she said.
“Those affect how the basketball bounces,” she said. “Basketball is just a big part of the community. You want to have a good floor for the kids to play on.”
Anyone wishing to donate can send checks payable to Ocracoke Island Running Club, c/o Ocracoke School, P.O. Box 189, Ocracoke, NC 27960.
