Students looking to enjoy the outdoors before finals week can trot over to West State Street Park this Saturday.
The second-annual Turkey Trot 5k race begins 11 a.m. Saturday at the park. It provides a chance for people to participate in intramural sports and do something other than schoolwork as finals are approaching, said Jessie Stokes, student director of special events in intramural sports.
This is a way for people with other interests to get out of the dorm and be active
Stokes said.
Last year, 86 people ran the race, and coordinators are hoping to have 20 more this year, she said. Twenty people were registered yesterday, but Stokes said most people wait until the last two days, or even the day of the race, to register.
The event is free and open to OU students, faculty, staff and Athens residents, according to an advertising poster.
The race is open to the community as well as students because the event is taking place in a public park where community members like to walk and it is next to the dog park she said.
The event will be a full 5k this year, unlike last year when the race was too short.
There was a lot of miscommunication last year
and (as a volunteer) I told the runners to go the wrong way
Stokes said. This year
we've worked out all the kinks.
This year, runners will be given a map of the course, she said.
Every person who runs the race will be eligible to win prizes. The first 25 people to register will get a T-shirt, according to the advertisement.
The top three men's and women's times also will receive prizes that likely will come from College Bookstore, Stokes said. The second- and third-place prizes will be championship T-shirts, and the first-place winners will receive a runner's package that might include water bottles and track jackets, Stokes said.
-Emily Tudor
17
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Emily Tudor
