Before families began to stuff their faces in the long awaited Thanksgiving feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie, over twelve hundred participated in the third annual Turkey Trot held at The Streets of Brentwood.  This huge turn out almost doubled last year’s six hundred and eighty-one participants with runners coming from not only Brentwood, but Oakley and Antioch as well.

  The Turkey Trot race is held in different cities around the United States, fundraising for different causes.  Each, however, shares the same purpose, to promote health and fitness while also raising some money for the community.  

  The Brentwood Turkey Trot specifically raises money for the Brentwood Union School District and Liberty Union High School District to support athletic clubs with whatever supplies they may need or need to replace.  For Adams Middle School the proceeds go to new track uniforms, for Brentwood Elementary they go to new yoga mats, fitness trail signs and footballs/basketballs and for Freedom High School the proceeds go to new training equipment.   

 For many families, the Turkey Trot has become a great way to spend quality time with one another and yet still give back to the community on a day where thankfulness is being celebrated.

“Getting up early on Thanksgiving morning to run with my family gives us something to do and has brought us together more with not only one another, but also with others who enjoy running or just supporting our schools,” said Brooke-lynn Santos (12).

  Other Heritage students have also participated in the Turkey Trot, one student specifically, Nathan McCauley, has gotten third place two years in a row, both in 2015 and 2016.  Nathan finished the 5K race in a time of eighteen minutes and forty-six seconds.  He was only eighteen seconds behind second place, and only two minutes and thirty-four seconds out of first place.

“It was pretty cool to see my name under third place for the second year in a row and although I didn’t get second or first place, I was still able to improve my time by fifty five seconds,” said Nathan McCauley (12).

  Everyone signs up for the race for different reasons.  Some to support schools, some just because they enjoy running, some because they are extremely competitive and some because they want to burn enough calories to feel good about stuffing their faces at Thanksgiving dinner.

“Running this race helps me feel better about eating endless amounts of food later on that day and makes eating extra pie more acceptable, in my mind at least” Brooke-Lynn Santos (12).

  Encouraging community wide exercise, bringing everyone together, raising money to further promote our school’s athletic programs and having the biggest turnout of all three years, this Turkey Trot was the most successful yet.