Students participate in annual Turkey Trot race

By Sophia Lodigiani,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Runners and non-runners alike participated in the Davis Turkey Trot on the morning of Nov. 18.

Davis High juniors Bryce Gregg, Travis Cosgrave, Will Ewens, Arvind Ramakrishnan and Kyle Henricson all entered the 5k and met up after they had finished.

“It’s offseason for cross country now, and since we didn’t go to States, that’s what we kind of promised to do if we didn’t go to States. We came out here just to have a good time, plus I have nothing else to do on a Saturday,” Henricson said.

Senior Abby Reina-Guerra ran the 5k with senior exchange student Hanna Sienknecht, who had never run the Turkey Trot before. Reina-Guerra and Ramakrishnan both agreed that the biting November morning cold was difficult to run in.

“[The race] was pretty good but my face was numb by the first mile because it’s pretty cold,” Ramakrishnan said.

Senior Evan Belk decided to do the half marathon after competing in it last year.

“I have kind of increased the distance I do each year, it’s been fun coming out of cross country, because I’m already in running shape,” Belk said.

The Belk family has a history running the Turkey Trot.

“My parents found out about it as they were getting married and moving into Davis together, and they were running it. Then when they had us they were pushing us in strollers originally, and then we walked it with them, so it has kind of evolved that way,” Belk said.

Senior Shauna Wallace’s family celebrates a similar tradition.

“My mom’s making me do it with my family. We do it every year together. They are all doing the 5k but I’m doing the 10k,” Wallace said.

Wallace ran the Turkey Trot in lieu of her crew practice.

“[I am going to] go at my own pace, not too fast because I’m not a runner, but enough to get a workout out of it […] My crew coach made me do the 10k because I’m skipping practice for this,” Wallace said.

DHS cross country alumni also joined the races.

“I am home for thanksgiving break, I am currently going to school at Cal Poly and we get a whole week off, so I figured I would start off the week doing the Turkey Trot because it’s something I do every year […] I’m here with my friend and her parents, we both did cross country together, and this has been a tradition, so we wanted to keep it up,” Sarah Sherwin said.

Elise Chu ran the 10k later in the morning.

“This is my third Turkey Trot, because I could never do it in high school because we would have races the following weekends,” Chu said.

Juniors Julia Pan and Jessica Mikerina volunteered to work at the race.

“[We are here] for CSF, and also it’s nice to see people smile when you help them with everything […] with the food and helping out wherever it’s needed,” Pan said.