Long Grove Turkey Trot 5K & 8K
By Chris Dean
On Thanksgiving morning (Nov 22, 2018) crowds gathered in historic district of Long Grove (near the once covered bridge) to participate in an annual Turkey Tradition of getting a run in before the big meal. The weather was cold (32*F) and gray but thankfully dry and proved to be a good morning for this annual event hosted by All Community Events (https://allcommunityevents.com/ ) for the 11th annual Long Grove Turkey Trot.
The mood was festive and fun as anxious runners stretched out, grouped up and found their friends and family near the starting line. There was a great mix of ages and abilities and you could see that many people use this event to catch up with friends and bring their families to kick off the Holidays. A number of runners dressed in turkey themed outfits, proving this was both a competitive run for some and a fun run for others.
Above, the Wall family from Mundelein
The 8K led off the event and wound through Long Grove’s historic downtown area and over the once covered bride and then across route 53 into the residential neighbored hood of Country Club Estates. The route is mostly on flat paved road, but does offer some slight hills and narrow paths in a few spots. The 5K race shares the majority of the route and 8K and 5K join back up towards the finish. The surge to the finish welcomed runners with hot cider and treats as well as a live band (Deja Vu http://www.dejavuband.com) that rocked out with well-known favorite songs which had a number of runners and spectators dancing past the finish.
Finally, to cap off the run and kick off the Holiday weekend, there was beer available as part of the race at the Long Grove Tavern. Runners (21+) huddled inside to get warm and share stories of their race experience and getting ready for football and turkey dinners ahead.
Top finishers of both distances in men and women’s divisions were as follows;
5k :
Women: Anna Gray was the 1st woman to finish the 5k with a time of 18:23, 2nd place Christine Pacewicz, 3rd place Megan Janezic.
Men, Overall 5k Race winner was 17 year old Paddy Furlong with a time of 16:13. 2nd Michael Connolly & 3rd Patrick Hart.
8K
Woman: Theresa Peterson was the first woman to finish the 8k with a time of 34:13, 2nd place was Meg Sullivan & third place was Victoria Dent.
Men: Sean Gill was the overall 8K race winner with a time of 26:30, 2nd place Patrick Burke & 3rd place was Brian Wakefield.
All race results can be found: https://allcommunityevents.com/longgroveturkeytrot
