Turkey Day Run on track to set record

Despite the gloomy, damp weather of the past three days, the 32nd annual Turkey Day Run and Gobble Wobble still appears to be on track to set another registration record.

Figures on Tuesday showed the event is running more than 400 registrations ahead, year-to-date, of last year's record total of 4,874.

While weather forecasts call for more clouds and dampness today -- traditionally the biggest day for registration -- conditions appear to be ideal for Thursday's 5K run and walk.

Forecasts for Thursday morning generally call for partly cloudy skies clearing to sunny skies throughout the morning with temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s and only a 10 percent chance of rain.

Peter Shahid, race director for the Knights of Columbus, P.N. Lynch Council No. 704, hopes something else is cleared by Thursday -- the 5,000 mark. It would be a milestone for the Turkey Day Run, which has been one of Charleston's three major running traditions of the past three decades. The others are the Cooper River Bridge Run and the Kiawah Island Marathon and Half Marathon.

While all three started in 1978, the Turkey Day Run has roots in some sort of Thanksgiving Day foot race dating back to 1914.

Yet the event has evolved and grown in recent years and will take another step into the 21st century on Thursday by using a computer timing system for the first time in its history.

Before, runners and walkers were scored by hand, which proved to be relatively slow and increasingly inaccurate as the numbers of participants grew. Using timing tags, attached to shoe laces, became inevitable as the number of registrants grew at an average annual rate of about 15 percent since 2003.

This year, besides timing chips, additions to the event include a beer garden in Marion Square and music by local rock band PlainJane from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

ABOUT THE RACE

WHEN: 9 a.m. Thursday (kids races at 10 a.m.)
WHERE: Downtown Charleston.
COST: $35 with T-shirt; $25 without. $5 more on race morning.
REGISTRATION/PACKET PICK-UP: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. today and 7-8:45 a.m. Thursday at a tent set up in Marion Square.
ROAD CLOSURES: Calhoun Street, between King and Meeting streets, will close at 6 a.m. race morning. The race course, including Meeting and King south of Charlotte Street, will close at 8:00 a.m. Meeting will reopen as the race progresses down it, while King will reopen at the conclusion of the race. Calhoun will reopen no later than noon.
MORE INFORMATION: turkeydayrun.com or 276-9339.