All across the region the great weather brought record crowd for Thanksgiving races, the busiest racing day of the year.

Thanksgiving Day and the Fourth of July are the two most popular days of the year for road races in the United States with more cities hosting running events those two holidays than any other day. Locally, the Yorktown Freedom Run on July 4th is the largest 5K of the year for the Peninsula Track Club, with a record 891 entrants this year. And for years there was just one Peninsula race on Thanksgiving morning, the Toys for Tots 10K and 5K (previously known as the Hog Jog) at Mariner's Museum Park in Newport News. Last year's Toys for Tots races, despite cold, rainy and windy conditions, had 663 entrants, with 395 completing the 5K and 145 finishing the 10K.

So when Williamsburg finally decided to have their own Thanksgiving morning event in 2007, the inaugural Blue Talon Bistro Turkey Trot, it was thought that the numbers might go down for the Toys for Tots race, or that the Blue Talon race might have difficulty getting a decent turnout for a first-year race. On the contrary, both races exploded, and both ran out of race bib numbers, having to turn away potential official entrants.

The Blue Talon race, organized by co-race directors Kelly Bailey and Morgan Newlon, and Chris Haywood's staff at WISC (Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex), with timing by the Colonial Road Runners, had a goal of a "couple hundred" runners. "Absolutely not" is what Bailey thought before race day about the possibility of reaching the City of Williamsburg and Williamsburg Police-imposed permit limit of 400 runners (due to the use of the starting area of Merchants Square, down Jamestown Road, across the William and Mary campus, down Richmond Road to Scotland Street, then back through city streets to a finish next to the Blue Talon Bistro on Prince George Street.

With 400 entrants, there were 387 official finishers for the Blue Talon race. And the PTC's Toys for Tots race certainly was not hurt by the competition. Under new organization by Zack Wittkamp and his staff at The Runner's Source running shoe and apparel store, close by in Hilton Village, the race had a goal of 800 entrants, but never expected to run out of the 1,000 runner numbers they had on hand. There were 993 official entrants, with estimates of up to 1,200 runners and walkers total participating. There were 776 official finishers in the 5K, and 168 finishers in the 10K. Conditions were warm (temperatures in the 60s), breezy and partly cloudy.

Blue Talon men's winner Derrin Pierret (22) of Morristown, NJ, a graduate student pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science at William and Mary, ended one tradition (eating Thanksgiving dinner at home for the previous 21 years) as he started another one (as the first official finisher in Williamsburg's first Thanksgiving-day race). Too much schoolwork, and not wanting to fight the Interstate 95 holiday traffic jams, kept him in Williamsburg. Pierret said, "Sometimes change can be refreshing. Also I'll be seeing my family in less than a month for winter break, so it won't be too much longer before I visit them."

Pierret ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track all four years at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, with personal records of 1:57 (800 meters), 3:58 (1,500 meters), 8:42 (3,000 meters) and 15:22 (5,000 meters). He was third man for the team at the 2005 Patriot League Championships in cross country with his 8K PR of 25:52. At Morristown High School, he started out as a 5:30 freshman miler, and ended up with a 4:26 best. But his proudest runs have come in longer events, being part of the Bucknell XC Alumni for the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon (200 miles from Mt. Hood to the Pacific Ocean), then becoming just the third Bucknell runner to complete an offbeat 60-mile run (in 10 hours) from the Penn State track in State College to the Bucknell track.

Pierret completed the 2.97-mile Turkey Trot course in 15:11 to easily win over former Jamestown High star Andrew Mearns, now on the W&M cross country and track teams. Mearns was runner-up in 15:52, with current Jamestown High runners Josh Schlickenmeyer (16) of Williamsburg third (17:06) and Andrew Litterst (16) of Williamsburg fourth (17:21).

For the women, it was a tight three-way battle among Masters (40+) runners for first, with Connie Glueck (43) of Williamsburg winning by just two seconds, 19:00 to 19:02, ahead of Leslie Mayne (40) of Altadena, CA, with Louise Wood (40) of Williamsburg third in 19:09. Close behind were younger runners Dakota McManus (11) in 19:18 and Joanna McCandlish (25) in 19:35, both of Williamsburg.

Third overall female Louise Wood is one of the managers of the Blue Talon. The idea for the race came from the restaurant's chef and owner David Everett, along with the manager and owner Adam Steely. The post-race refreshments (baked goods, fruit and, coffee) were provided by David Everett's Blue Talon Bistro. The men's and women's top three overall awards were wooden pepper grinders (the same as those used in the restaurant), engraved with the Blue Talon chicken logo, and the top-three age-group awards were stainless steel to go coffee mugs, also engraved. All age 60-and-over runners received a free one-month membership to WISC. T-shirts were designed and printed by Colonial Sports, one block away from the Blue Talon. The Turkey Trot is planned as an annual event.

At the Toys for Tots 5K, Derryn Bray (23) of Poquoson won in 16:25, followed by Douglas Marshall (33) of Mathews (16:36) and Brian Clapp (19) of Smithfield (16:52). For the women Aurora Scott (17) of Chesapeake won a tune up race in 18:33, two days before qualifying for the Foot Locker national high school cross country championships at the regional qualifying race in Charlotte, NC. Arlyne Spalla (38) of Langley AFB (19:45) and Emily Low (23) of Newport News (20:02) were second and third.

In the Toys for Tots 10K, Jim Lancaster (30) of Baltimore (visiting relatives in Newport News) was first in 36:36, followed by Rick Platt (57) of Williamsburg (37:56) and David Lockard (38) of Hampton (39:20). Bryan Banning (23) of Newport News (who ran a 2:50:45 for the SunTrust Richmond Marathon two weeks earlier) was the fourth male finisher in 39:33, but he was several seconds ahead of Platt with just a quarter-mile to go, but tripped on a pothole, sprained his ankle, and limped in over a minute and a half later.

The women's top three for the 10K were quite strong, placing third, sixth, and eighth overall. Yorktown Battlefield 10 Miler winner Fabiana Perlingeiro (30) of Norfolk (a Brazilian, and Norfolk State grad) won her second PTC race of November with a time of 38:22, with Crystal Pruitt (22) of Poquoson (a Virginia Tech student and part-time Runner's Source employee) second in 39:40, holding off former Yorktown Freedom Run winner Allyson Schindel (33) of Glen Allen (39:48).

Full Race Results