What draws so many people each year is the event’s family atmosphere, Bell said.
“As we look through the daily entries we will see five, six, 12 people with the same last name or hyphenated name,” he said. “People come home for Thanksgiving and they do the Trot together.”
Three generations “trotting” together is common, Bell said.
“We have many families with four, and usually at least a couple of five(-generation families),” he said. “This is why they come and why we keep saying ‘OK, one more year.’”
The fee for Thursday’s five-mile run/walk event is $45 for those 15 and older and $35 for those age 14 and younger. The fee for the one-mile event is $30 for all participants.
This year’s Turkey Trot had attracted nearly 7,700 participants by Monday, Bell said. Event organizers expect to have nearly 8,000 participants signed up by tonight.
The expo and packet pickup, which includes a shirt and bib, is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Baum Opera House,15 S. First St., Miamisburg. It will offer a live deejay and vendors.
“You can go online until then and sign up, but you must pick up your bib and shirt at the Baum Opera House by 7 p.m. Wednesday or by 8:15 a.m. Thanksgiving Day,” Bell said. No registrations for the race will be accepted after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday or on race day Thursday, Bell said.
A costume contest will be judged at 8 a.m. in the Bennett’s Publical Family Sports Grill patio directly across from the start line. Winners will receive dinner-and-a-movie prizes.
The ORRRC began in 1966. Its goal is “to promote a healthy, connected community through running and volunteering,” Bell said. All club officers and race directors are volunteers.
The club puts on more than 40 races each year ranging in length from one mile to 50 miles. Its “big races” are the ORRRC Marathon in Xenia (April 6, 2025), the Ghost ‘N Goblin race (Oct. 28, 2025) and the Turkey Trot, which is “by far the largest event,” Bell said.
This year, the Turkey Trot’s 5-mile race will run through Riverfront Park in the last eighth of a mile, he said.
“It will showcase our town’s new park and should make for a fun finish,” Bell said.
This year’s Turkey Trot also has a new 1-mile course, which will start as before just as the final five-milers get started, but will follow on Linden Avenue for a block and turn right on Second Street. It will follow Second until Mound Avenue, then turn right on Mound for a block and join the 5-mile course heading north.
“This is simplified and a much better course all around,” Bell said.
More than 275 volunteers make the event happen, including “paid” volunteer groups like the Dayton Wolverines Track Club, the Miamisburg High School track team, the Springboro High school Cross Country Team and several community non-profit organizations.
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