Running for a cause: Denver’s 51st Turkey Trot raises more than half a million dollars

On Thanksgiving morning, three friends dressed as pilgrim women in bonnets and a human-sized turkey played basketball at Washington Park by the Turkey Trot finish line.

It was their first Turkey Trot in Denver and they decided to shoot some hoops before heading to their 10:30 a.m. runtime.

Connor Healey, who moved to Colorado several years ago, remarked how much bigger Denver’s Turkey Trot is in comparison to the annual Thanksgiving running tradition renditions he’s been to in his home state of Plymouth Rock fame.

“My family would always do them back home in Massachusetts,” Healey said. “I didn’t go home this year, but wanted to bring a little bit of that and have some of my best friends with me.”

He and his friend ordered their pilgrim costumes off of Amazon for the trot’s costume contest, but the male pilgrim costumes wouldn’t come on time, Healey joked. So, they went for the women’s version with the bonnets — attracting passersby to stop and take photos with them.

And they were many more festive running outfits throughout the park.

People showed up wearing plush hats shaped like traditional Thanksgiving meals such as turkey legs, corn on the cob and pumpkin pie. Others wore turkey onesies with their racing bibs plastered on their soon-to-be-filled stomachs. One runner even wore an inflatable turkey costume.

Running the Turkey Trot has become a Thanksgiving tradition over the last few decades in the U.S., best explained by several sweaters seen on the Denver track with the words “run, beer, turkey, nap” printed on them.

About 10,200 runners showed up at the snow-dusted park Thursday morning for the 51st annual Turkey Trot in Denver, which has grown to become one of the largest Turkey Trots in the country. And this was the first year it featured a costume contest, as organizers have noticed each year attracted more campy and festive sporting fits.

The first winners of the contest included costumes of a chef with a turkey, an inflatable dinosaur and a slab of butter.

Once the event ends, the money raised from registered runners and corporate sponsorships is tallied and put toward the funding efforts of Mile High United Way, the nonprofit organization founded in the Denver metro area in 1887.

The Turkey Trot is the biggest fundraising event for Mile High United Way.

This year’s Turkey Trot raised more than $641,000, the charity announced after the 4-mile race finished.

“This is our largest single event. … and it supports the work that Mile High United Way has been doing for 137 years,” the nonprofit’s CEO, Christine Benero, told The Denver Gazette. “And this year, it feels even more important.”

Mile High United Way puts the money raised through the holiday race toward its $30 million fundraising goal to support its programs such as the 211 call center, helping new parents, coaching youth leaving the child welfare system or its new free tax preparation service.

Benero said calls to the United Way 211 call center have gone up this year due to a continued deficit of attainable housing, more parents looking for jobs and families struggling to put food on the table.

The 211 call center is a confidential helpline where callers can speak to navigators in almost any language who will understand what a caller’s situation is and direct them to a Colorado nonprofit or local resources that can help.

“The money goes into running those programs and continuing to provide services for the community throughout the entire year,” Benero said, “not just on Thanksgiving.”