Turkey Trot Participation Up 6% for 2012 (Road Race Weekly)

Competitor.com/Road Race Weekly reported a 6% increase in participation in Turkey Trots, typically 5k/10k races held on Thanksgiving morning, around the US. That's a nice trend! I didn't make it out to a Trot this year...too many cooking duties. But that didn't stop the local San Jose Turkey Trot from growing 24% this year!

Out of the 20 well-established turkey trots surveyed, 161,480 runners crossed finish lines in 14 states, compared with 153,353 last year. The largest race in the survey, the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in San Jose, Calif., contributed nearly half of the increase reported in the index, rising to 20,159 finishers across all races. That was an increase of 3,883, or 24%, from last year. The Fifth Third Bank Turkey Trot in Detroit, Mich., the second-largest event in the survey, also showed a smart increase of 9.3% to 18,953.

Thirteen of the 20 races showed increases in finishers. The oldest race in the survey, the Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot 8K in Buffalo, N.Y., showed an increase of 5.3% to 12,501. That race was held for the 117th time. The Charlotte Turkey Trot in Charlotte., N.C., showed the greatest decrease of any of the events surveyed, both in the number of finishers and percentage change. Finishers fell to 4233, a decline of 12.4 % from last year.

Here is the list of 20 events and their year-over-year change in finisher totals:

Event, 2011 Finishers, 2012 Finishers, Change, % Change
Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot/Elite 5K^ (San Jose, CA), 16,276, 20,159, 3,883, 23.9%
Fifth Third Bank Turkey Trot^ (Detroit, MI), 17,339, 18,953, 1,614, 9.3%
Thanksgiving Day 10K (Cincinnati, OH), 13,878, 14,801, 923, 6.7%
Manchester Road Race 4.78M, (CT), 13,467, 13,409, -58, -0.4%
Delaware YMCA Turkey Trot 8K (Buffalo, NY), 11,881, 12,510, 629, 5.3%
Feaster 5-K & 8-K (Andover, MA), 8,520, 9,288, 768, 9.0%
Dana Point Turkey Trot^ (CA), 8,085, 8,477, 392, 4.8%
Capital One Bank Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot 8M & 5-K (TX), 7,878, 7,557, -321, -4.1%
Atlanta Half-Marathon (GA) , 8,489, 7,551, -938, -11.0%
Turkey Trot 5K (Chicago, IL), 6,012, 6,448, 436, 7.3%
Troy Turkey Trot^ (Troy, NY), 5,715, 6,207, 492, 8.6%
Cleveland Turkey Trot 5 Mile (Cleveland, OH), 5,466, 6,196, 730, 13.4%
Turkey Day 5K (Charleston, SC), 5,609, 5,669, 60, 1.1%
Alexandria PWBA Turkey Trot (VA), 4,053, 4,259, 206, 5.1%
Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K (NC), 4,831, 4,233, -598, -12.4%
Pequot Runner’s Thanksgiving Day 5 Mile (Southport, CT), 4,223, 4,141, -82, -1.9%
YMCA Bethesda-Chevy Chase Turkey Chase (MD), 4,090, 4,022, -68, -1.7%
Garden City Turkey Trot 5-Miler (NY), 3,377, 3,225, -152, -4.5%
Port Washington Thanksgiving Day Run (NY), 2,599, 2,627, 28, 1.1%
Portland Thankgiving Day 4 Miler (ME), 1,565, 1,748, 183, 11.7%
Totals, 153,353, 161,480, 8,127, 5.3%
^5K & 10K finishers combined