Thousands brave cold temperatures
to run annual race
The 36th Annual Garden City Turkey Trot was held on a sunny but cold and windy Thanksgiving day. The frigid temperatures were no match for the more than 5,000 runners who ran in Long Island’s largest Thanksgiving day road race. The Turkey Trot consists of three races—a Challenger Division Race for courageous special needs athletes, a 1.4-mile Fun Run and a challenging 5-mile race.
All three races start and finish in front of the historic St. Paul’s School on Stewart Avenue.
The winner of this year’s 5-Mile Race and Jim Flynn Memorial Trophy was 22-year-old Bronx resident Christopher Guerrero, whose winning time was 25:19. The first female finisher was 31-year-old Brooklynite Colleen Herbert with a time of 30:25. The first Garden City resident finisher was 20-year-old William Slattery, who finished in 27:24 and had an impressive top ten finish, placing sixth overall. The first female Garden City resident finisher was 16-year-old Caroline Ferri, who finished in 32:10.
A new inflatable start line arch was a welcome addition to this year’s race as were new sponsors and many more volunteers. Race Director Ken Aneser noted that “each year we try to improve the race to create a better experience for the runners and spectators and we cannot do it without the tremendous support of our sponsors, friends and neighbors.”
The Turkey Trot is much more than a race. It is a well established family tradition for so many in the community. Hundreds of volunteers, young and old alike, come out to lend a hand and help make the race a success. Net race proceeds are donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the INN. A food drive resulted in hundreds of pounds of food being donated to the INN and several hundred race t-shirts were donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
The Turkey Trot would not be possible without the generous support of corporate sponsors. The local Merrill Lynch Garden City office is the race’s lead corporate sponsor and has been so for more than 35 years. Regional Managing Director Dominick Tomeo and the entire Merrill Lynch Garden City office have shown a true commitment to support the race and its charities. The Kenney Family Foundation also donates very substantial sums to the race beneficiaries and, assisted by Al Vanasco, ensures that the Challenger Division athletes experience the thrill of victory each and every year. Other major sponsors include Select Sector SPDRs, The Garden City Hotel, Winthrop Radiology Associates, National Land Tenure, The Durnan Group, Rallye Auto Group, Verizon, Coach Realtors, Tradeweb, New York Spine Institute, La Bottega, Walk Street, New Balance Long Island, The Donnelly Group, Doc O’Grady’s Irish Pub, North Coast Financial Group, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, New York Running Company and Zico Coconut Water. The race committee (Ken Aneser, Kevin Coffey, Bob Freeman, Chris Giarraputo, Mike Kopcak, Charlie Lee, Jim Loughlin, Ian Paisley, Bob Priest, Phil Puccio, Tim Tobin & Rob Votruba) would like to thank all the runners, and volunteers and all those who live on the race course for their support. In particular the Garden City Fire Department, police department, recreation department and the Department of Public Works greatly assist the race committee each and every year. Last but not least, the Nassau County Law Enforcement Explorers were a tremendous asset for the race committee, who hopes to have them back every year.
The race committee wishes everyone a happy and healthy holiday season and looks forward to next year’s Turkey Trot.
