390 runners at 50th Turkey Trot raise record amount for Loaves & Fishes

The 50th running of the Finger Lakes Runners Club’s Turkey Trot was a huge success. A record $5,895 (and growing) was raised for Loaves & Fishes, and about 390 people participated on a sunny, 40-degree morning. We have some runner-taken photos from the race, and if you took any, please upload them!

Donation History

  • 2010–13: Truckloads of cans and boxes of food collected
  • 2014: $2,024 collected with 333 participants
  • 2015: $2,855 (423 participants) 
  • 2016: $2,756 (268 participants) 
  • 2017: $4,030 (397 participants) 
  • 2018: $2,549 (211 participants) 
  • 2019: $4,137 (312 participants) 
  • 2020: $4,192 (virtual, 157 participants) 
  • 2021: $4,251 (289 participants) 
  • 2022: $5,895+ (390 participants)

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Turkey Trot and might be, after 17 years, my last year directing this wonderful event. The Turkey Trot is totally hands-on. Paper meets pen. Tradition. Family. Memory. If you are interested in helping out as assistant race director in 2023 and carrying forward the torch in future years, please contact me at bar2@cornell.edu. The Turkey Trot is near and dear to my heart. I can only leave it to someone who will devote themselves to it at least half as much as I have.

I have spent the month since the Turkey Trot transferring names and actual times submitted on stickers handed out at the finish line to the signup sheets with predicted times. “By hand” takes time! A PDF of the “results” has now been uploaded, as well as a list of those closest to their predictions. 

Thanks to Ithaca Bakery for their donation of bread, bagels, and pastries; Purity Ice Cream for the prize-winning pies; and Cornell Orchards for apples. FLRC picked up the tab for everything else. Thanks to all those who were so generous to Loaves & Fishes. Thanks to Rob Kurcoba for designing the 50th Turkey Trot t-shirt, which sold out of the straight orange version and very few left of the fitted lime-colored ones. We plan to repeat the shirts next year, with, hopefully, the fitted version in orange.

Thanks to my many volunteers: my wife, Kathleen Gibson, for her endless help and for being my food czar; Tom Hartshorne for directing traffic (and tireless behind-the-scenes work on the trails); Joel Cisne and Jessica Sterns for directing traffic; Adam Engst and Tonya Engst for publicity, logistics, and, with help from Dave Kania, distributing our 50th Turkey Trot shirts; and to Christina Culver, director of Loaves & Fishes, and her crew of registration line/finish line/food helpers.

Finally, I believe I left my bright-orange Columbia winter coat at the event. Anyone find it?

I hope to see at least 500 of you at the 50th Anniversary next year!

Gobble Gobble!
Bruce Roebal, Director
Ithaca Turkey Trot