High Country Turkey Trot 5K registration now open

Press release:

High Country Turkey Trot 5K Registration Now Open
Sponsorships and Naming Rights still available for the High Country’s largest 5K

BOONE, N.C. – October 10, 2016: – For the sixth consecutive year the High Country Turkey Trot 5K will take place Thanksgiving morning on the Boone Greenway Trail at the Clawson-Burnley Park entrance. Big Kahuna Timing will be assisting with the event, utilizing fully automatic chip timing for the 5K Race.

The race will kick off at 9:00am with the Fun Run, for casual runners, joggers and walkers following shortly thereafter. Hearts of Hospitality House, the ladies ambassador group for Hospitality House, is helping to organize the event with 100% of proceeds going to provide food, shelter and life-changing services to individuals and families in need.

Last year, Our State magazine named it one of the Top Ten Holiday 5K races in North Carolina and over 900 participants from 26 different States and 55 unique North Carolina towns and cities participated in the annual event.

“Since our first event six years ago, it has been exciting to watch the Turkey Trot grow in participation and recognition each year,” states Hospitality House director of development Todd Carter. “It is most gratifying when a family tells us that we helped them start a new holiday tradition or when a runner opines that the Greenway Trail is the most beautiful 5K that they’ve ever run.”

Since 2011, the High Country Turkey Trot has raised over $120,000 and 4,200 pounds of food to support the mission of Hospitality House, a regional nonprofit Transitional Living Facility and Crisis Assistance Resource Center serving seven rural North Carolina counties.

Presented by ECRS Retail Automation Solutions, Stallings & Company Interior Design and Moltox Molecular Toxicologists, this year’s High Country Turkey Trot is still accepting sponsorships as a premier marketing opportunity for local and regional businesses.

The event also features the Leigh Cooper Wallace winner’s chute, dedicated in 2013, a costume contest, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, healthy snacks, outdoor fire pits and heat blowers. Pumpkin pie prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place overall finishes for men and women. Race results will be provided in overall and age division formats with first-place finishers in each age division receiving a certificate.

Everyone is welcome to participate, including families with children, strollers and pets on a leash. All participants are asked to bring non-perishable food items – canned goods, boxed goods, dry goods – for donation to the Hospitality House Bread of Life Hunger Relief programs which served over 146,000 meals last year in the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry.

Pre-registration, available online at HCTurkeyTrot.org, is $30 for adults & teens and $10 for kids 12 and under. Adult & teen registration includes a commemorative long sleeve t-shirt while kids registration includes a Turkey Trot sticker. Kids 12 & under wishing to receive a commemorative t-shirt, need to register as an adult/teen and choose t-shirt size small.

Back by popular demand is the Sleep-In Option. Perfect for someone who’s not a morning person, is stuck at home cooking the Turkey or just loves to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, this option allows folks to participate and still receive a commemorative long-sleeve T-Shirt!

Pre-registration mail-in forms can be picked up in Ashe County at HQ Salon, Little’s Health & Fitness, Havana Café, Skyline/Skybest, Bobby D’s, Harvest Café and Bald Mountain Baptist Church. In Watauga, they can be found at Welcome Home Thriftique, Broyhill Wellness Center, CoBo Bistro, The Local, Vidalia, Higher Grounds, Boone Bike, AMB, Lost Province and Boone Drug.

For sponsorship information and questions email Carter at todd@hosphouse.org or call 828.264.1237 x107.

To learn more about the mission of Hospitality House please visit HospHouse.org, like them on Facebook, Facebook.com/HospHouse and follow them on Twitter @HospHouseBoone.