When it comes to famous American footraces, competitions like San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers or the Boston Marathon likely come to mind. But neither of these races is the nation’s oldest continuously run footrace — that distinction belongs instead to the Buffalo Turkey Trot, an 8K race held every year on Thanksgiving Day as a fundraiser for the YMCA in Buffalo, New York. During its first race back in 1896, only six runners participated (and two dropped out along the way), but today some 14,000 participants run the Turkey Trot down Delaware Avenue through the heart of the city. There are now more than 200 Turkey Trots around the U.S., all inspired by that original race more than 125 years ago.
Although the Turkey Trot is one of the U.S.’s oldest races — it even beats out the Boston Marathon by five months — it isn’t the oldest race on the continent if you’re counting races that have occasionally been canceled. Ontario’s Around the Bay Road Race and Massachusetts’ Bemis-Forslund Pie Race, which is the oldest U.S. footrace of any distance, predate the Turkey Trot by a handful of years. However, both races have been canceled for a variety of reasons, including world wars and the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these world-altering calamities, the Turkey Trot trotted on, and is now officially the nation’s oldest continuously run footrace. In fact, it claims to be the oldest continuously run footrace in the world.
Media Release/Interesting Facts
