Another Successful Wild Turkey Run!

Early Thanksgiving morning, the rain held off until the completion of the run as 1737 runners, volunteers and spectators took to the streets of Salem to start their holiday participating in the 21st Annual Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run!

On behalf of the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, thank you to our participants for joining us for our 21st year. Your generosity and support of this annual event benefits youth programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Salem, and for that we are truly thankful.

This year’s Wild Turkey Run was the largest race on the North Shore. We started in 2004 with 300 runners and had a high of 1961 runners in 2015. This event has become a great holiday tradition both for locals and visiting family members. 

We had to change course as there was construction at the Willows and we ran in the Salem Common for the first time since year one!!   

Some interesting statistics from this year’s Wild Turkey 5-Mile Run: 

For the 16th year in a row, women runners outnumbered men, 54.32% to 45.68%.  

• Runner ages ranged from 6 years old to 83 years old! 
• The winning time of 26:14 was turned in by the first-place finisher, Chris Batts from Winthrop
• The female winner was Heather McClain from Peabody, in a time of 27:03
• 9 Runners have completed all 21 Wild Turkey Runs!
• We had 1737 registered runners up from 1631 in 2023.
• Runners came from 32 states

Competitors joined us from across the country, representing 32 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. The states include: Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Idaho, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Texas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Utah, Oregon, Vermont, South Carolina, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, Hawaii, Louisiana and Washington D. C.  

This great event could not be possible without the support of our community sponsors. Sponsors include: Witch City Walking Tours, Dunkin Donuts, New England Running Company,  Peabody Essex Museum, Planet Fitness, Herrick Lutts Realty Partners, Crosbys Market,  A & A Services Home Improvement,  Johnson & O’Connor, Eastern Bank, Jem Studio Body AlChemist, Salem Wax Museum (In Memory of Ed Shirley), Boys & Girls Club of Lynn,  Beauport Ambulance, East Regiment Brewery,  Kaloutas Painting, Highland Dental,  John J. Walsh Insurance, Correnti & Kolick LLP, Duffy Law, Octocog Marketing & Design, and StephenOGrady.com.

Special gratitude to the many volunteers who donated their Thanksgiving morning and at the packet pickup to help out at the race:  Stephanie Cooper, Kelly and Todd Pheulpin,  Ellen Talkowsky, Ilene Simons, Carole Donnelly, Grace and Josenny Duran, Elmer Galvez, Tom St. Pierre, Barbara Marino,  Beth Griffin, Kerry Phelan, Tina Zolla, Mario Fagone,  Lynne Grenier, Mark DeLuca, Peter Solomine, Shari, Kenny and Kyle Hewson, Michele and Gif Campbell, Mark Janett,  Lauren Gabel, Mary Herchenhahn, John Landry,  Lisa Cammarata, Carol and Lee Libelo,  Debbie and Mark Everett,   Jenn Taylor,  Paul Cranney,  Suzi Clements,  Peter Graves, Alison Phelan, Amy Walsh, Ashley Springett, Tim Short,  Kevin Power, Shawn McCarthy, Alen Yen, Joyce Arcisz,  Estella Moriarty,  Joanne Scott, Saul DeLeon, Rosely Vasquez, and Coach Matt Hubauer and members of the Salem High Baseball team. Thanks also to the great cheering group from the Salem Willows neighborhood.    

Special thanks to the Salem Police for controlling the traffic during the race to keep the runners safe, and to the many Salem residents along the route who cheered our runners on!
 
Again, thank you everyone for making this another successful Thanksgiving event!

Doug Bollen
Wild Turkey Race Director