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Thanksgiving — a fun-filled day with lots of food and football — begins a little different for many who celebrate the holiday in Bryan-College Station. Hundreds of runners will kick off their day at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center participating in the annual BCS Turkey Trot.
The 2022 race will feature a 5K race through the Stonebridge neighborhood as well as a family-friendly 1-mile fun run around the Baylor Scott & White campus. The runners of the race are from all levels starting with novice to experienced marathon runners, says race director Dan McClain.
“We get all age groups from toddlers to grandparents and great grandparents that are into their 80s,” he says. “We get a ton of families, who use it as their wake up and tune up for Thanksgiving Day. They come out and run to pre-burn some of those Thanksgiving calories that they're gonna pack on later in the day.”
Dan says all runners will receive a race bib and commemorative t-shirt with registration. Following the race, participants will be greeted with live music, drinks from a local craft brewery, and a variety of pie options supplied by H-E-B.
All proceeds raised from the race go directly to the Mercy Project, which was founded by Chris Field to help children in Ghana, Africa. “My wife and I founded Mercy Project in 2010 after learning about the children who had been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana and visiting multiple times and meeting them,” Chris said. “Since then it's grown into an organization with more than 15 Ghanaian employees that has rescued almost 250 children out of trafficking and reunited them back into their families.”
When looking for something to use as a fundraiser for the Mercy Project, Chris decided to host the first BCS Turkey Trot, he says. After seeing the turnout of the avid running community, Chris decided to plan another more vigorous race — and the BCS Marathon was born.
"More than 1,000 runners every Thanksgiving and the Baylor Scott & White BCS Marathon and Half Marathon has more than 3,000 runners every single year including runners from across Texas and usually even 10 to 15 other states,” Chris says.
The 2022 BCS Marathon will also happen later this holiday season on December 11.
“If you think you want to run at all, these are great races to start with for a first half-marathon or first marathon,” Dan says. “BCS Marathon is a fairly easy course and it's very well organized, we make it super simple and the Turkey Trot is just a very fun, family oriented great atmosphere, just a really fun race. More importantly, all the proceeds from both of these go to great charities.”
Both the Turkey Trot and BCS Marathon are currently holding open registration online at bcsturkeytrot.com and bcsmarathon.com.
