The 14th annual Sedona Turkey Trot 5K will return to Posse Grounds Park on Thanksgiving, Thursday, Nov. 23, at 9 a.m. Registration is still open for $35 per participant; the cost will increase to $40 the day before the race and $45 on race day.

While the inaugural Turkey Trot in 2011 had only 80 runners, “last year, we saw a total of 800 participants, and we’re outpacing last year significantly right now, so will see at least 800, maybe 900 folks come out this year,” event organizer Vince Sherry, co-owner of Run Flagstaff, said. Sherry added that a unique feature of the Sedona Turkey Trot is that most participants every year are first-timers; the majority are visitors as well.

“[It has] a family friendly, fun run atmosphere because we have a lot of families that come out and a lot of people pushing strollers,” Sherry said. “So it’s not super competitive. Although we will probably have a couple of leads up front as a result of it being a race in Northern Arizona. But overall it’s an easy kind of laid-back way to start out your day on Thanksgiving with some beautiful views of Sedona and some rolling hills. Costumes are encouraged. Somebody dresses up as a stuffed turkey every year. You get all the typical stuff of pilgrims and giant turkeys. I’ve seen families make special T-shirts where they’ll have their names on their shirts.”

The race route leaving Posse Grounds Park starts off with a fairly steep descent, so participants may be tempted to go out the gate fast, but there are also significant climbs along the return route to the park and Sherry encouraged runners to save their energy for the back half of the route.

“The route [is] kind of a lollipop loop. You go out, down Carruth Drive, make a left on a Soldier Pass Road and you loop around the neighborhood and come back,” Sherry said.

The awards ceremony is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. There will be a $300 prize for each of the male and female runners who finish first. The masters’ level first finishers will each receive a $100 gift certificate to Run Flagstaff Online and each age group winner will receive a $35 gift card.

“We do finisher medals and they’re legit steel medals with nice ribbons with this year’s logo on it and the date,” Sherry said. “We will have t-shirts, which have the event logo, and we’ve got donuts at the finish line.”

In spite the large number of people coming to Posse Grounds Park, Sherry said parking hasn’t been an issue because the run tends to be a family event and participants are typically arriving four to a vehicle.

“The weather is usually nice, and a 5K is manageable normally for all members of the family,” Sherry said. “But even if you’re a more advanced runner, the course [has] some rollers in it. So if you want to push yourself on Thanksgiving morning, it’s still a good opportunity, you can run hard, or you can take it easy and enjoy the morning. It’s going to give you just enough of an output to make that Thanksgiving day dinner taste a little better.”

Area runners may also want to start training now for more planned events from Run Sedona. A 5K, 10K and half marathon are currently scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024.

Registration is available online at runflagstaff. com/sedona-turkey-trot.

Questions may be directed to Vince Sherry at Vince@RunFlagstaff.com or at (928) 774-2990.