Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Break out your running shoes, registration begins now for the 127th annual YMCA Turkey Trot, an 8 kilometer race on Thanksgiving morning at 9 a.m. that attracts runners of all ages to the City of Buffalo.
The YMCA is expecting 14,000 'trotters' this year. Registration went live at 11 a.m. Thursday morning. If you sign up now, the cost is $37 to register. If you wait until Saturday, Oct. 15th, you will have to pay $42 dollars.
The event caps at 14,000 participants and proceeds from the event go to YMCA programs that help empower the youth and improve community health. As the biggest fundraiser for our local YMCAs, the Turkey Trot raised over $300,000 last year. The Turkey Trot continues to provide accessible programs for our local community.
"We really urge people to sign up early and sign up the family too. When you say it's a race, people think, okay, you got to win the thing, right? But, this is a trial. We have runners, we have joggers, we have walkers. We have people of all athletic levels doing this and it's something that is greatly beneficial to the community and greatly beneficial to the Y's mission of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility," YMCA Buffalo Niagara's Communications Director, Mike Baggerman told WBEN's Susan and Brian Thursday morning.
A Buffalo tradition for many, this 127-year-old race has operated through COVID at limited capacity and still continues to turn heads as people race in their costumes around downtown Buffalo.
"14,000 people running from Delaware Avenue, all the way down to towards City Hall right around the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. I mean, it's one of those amazing sites that you see, every single Thanksgiving Day. It's an institution and people just love it here in Western New York," Baggerman said.
Baggerman also hints that there is going to be a special announcement that the YMCA will announce in a few weeks, which may have something to do with the Buffalo Bills game at 12:30 p.m. in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.
"We do have a special announcement that's going to be coming in a few weeks time. Unfortunately, at this time, I can't say exactly what it is.
We know the Bills are playing in Detroit that day at 12:30. We're going to be doing something special with that in mind to try to make it fun. The timing of it is great because the race starts first thing in the morning and by the time that you finish the race, you have time to enjoy the post-race party and then still get home to catch kickoff," Baggerman says.
Visit ymcabn.org or click here to sign up for the event.