On Thursday, Nov. 14, over 68 various Trinity University students, faculty and staff gathered at the Intramural field to participate in Trinity’s 56th annual Turkey Trot. The task? Run a 2.1 mile loop around Trinity’s campus. The prize? One prime frozen turkey.
“The Turkey Trot has been going on for forever. I had to look up dates in old Trinitonians to see when it first started,” said Caroline Keener, assistant director of athletics for recreational sports. “Jim Potter, the father of Trinity Intramurals, started it, and it went on when I was a student””we have always continued on the tradition.”
This year, first year Ryan Hernandez won the race. Sophomore Paxton Deuel won the frozen turkey. Because the runners who placed ahead of him are involved in university athletics, they could not accept a prize like the turkey. The remaining runners won a participation prize of a neon shirt portraying James Hill, assistant to the director of athletics, who coincidentally was the one who shot off the gun to start the race. Trinity’s registered Intramural hashtags and Twitter handle covered the back of the shirt.
“It’s usually a pretty big event, and I’ve found that if you give out neon shirts you get a lot more people,” Kenner said. “It’s a great way to stay active, be competitive with a bunch of people at Trinity and learn a new jogging path around the campus.”
The 2.1 mile race, which is put on by Trinity’s Intramurals Program, took the runners around the entire circumference of the Trinity campus.
“The Trot is held on the Intramural field, where the race begins,” said junior Cody Leiffer. “The track outlines Trinity’s campus, so by starting on the Intramural field, runners go up Stadium Drive and take a left into the field behind the library where Frisbee golf is played. Runners then cut back onto the pavement when they reach the area behind Halsell Hall, then make their way to Shook for a long straight away by dorms North, South and Prassel. After taking a left onto Ledge Lane by Prassel, runners make their way to the soccer field and finish back at the Intramural field.”
There is no prior sign up needed to participate in the Trot; one simply needs to show up to the Intramural field with enough time to sign in before the start of the race. For many runners, the Trot was a good way to get in a light run and great exercise (and a free t-shirt), particularly before the monumental Rock “˜n’ Roll Marathon, held the following weekend.
“To be honest, I ran for the shirt, but it was a really nice, fun run and I am on the cross-country team, so doing two miles instead of the regular five or six or eight was a lot easier for me,” Hernandez said. “It was fun seeing the different sports teams and the different people who you would not normally see exercise exercising together. I would encourage everybody to sign up for the Turkey Trot next year because it is a lot of fun, and if you win, you get a turkey and everybody gets a t-shirt.”
