Turkey Trot 5-miler - Alexandria VA

For a runner Thanksgiving means also Turkey Trot and the Alexandria Turkey Trot is probably the DC Region's premiere Thanksgiving Day road race. More then 4000 runners ran this morning in the heart of Del Ray (Alexandria) the most successful of the 36 editions of this 5-miler race.
A perfect day (the weather was gorgeous) and a new route helped to achieve great results a set new PR's. The overall male winner was Luis Orta (member of the Venezuelan National Team at last Pan American games) in 24:44, four seconds ahead of Gurmessa Kumsa of Ethiopia (course record holder in 23:39 - 2006) while the female winner was Emily Harrison, who runs for the Flagstaff, Ariz.-based McMillanElite team (she sets the new ladies' race record in 27:13).

Big prizes for the top 3 winners (1000$ split by 1st, 2nd, 3rd place overall M+F) ... not much for the first 3 in each 10 years age group.

Nevertheless the race was well organized (with the support of DCRR) with a lot of cheering and support from the residents of Del Ray. The new location and facilities worked well although some additional Porta-John could have been of some help.

Nice thanksgiving run, here the complete results.