New 5K race to help Christmas gift drive. Run, walk or jog Leftover Turkey Trot in downtown North Attleboro on Nov. 27.

 

Looking for a race to run or walk right after Thanksgiving while helping a good cause? Then sign up for the Leftover Turkey Trot, a new 5K planned for Sunday, Nov. 27 in downtown North Attleboro.
Check out the details in this story, which was published Tuesday, Nov. 8 in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA. (LINK TO THAT STORY: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/new-5k-in-north-attleboro-to-benefit-christmas-is-for-kids-as-part-of-day/article_3c0bece7-0c4a-584e-9912-cbb20f7bef1b.html

BY LARRY KESSLER
FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE

NORTH ATTLEBORO --- Area runners and walkers will get a chance to work off the extra calories from their Thanksgiving Day feast and help the area’s biggest local gift drive at the same time by participating in the inaugural Leftover Turkey Trot 5K on Sunday, Nov. 27.
The race will benefit Christmas Is For Kids, the longstanding gift drive that serves children and teens in Attleboro, North Attleboro, Plainville, Norton, Seekonk and Rehoboth. Participants will be encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy with them that will be donated to the drive.
The new event is the brainchild of Town Manager Michael Borg, according to Assistant Town Manager Antonio Morabito, who is organizing the race along with Dr. Mark Young of North Attleboro --- the longtime race director of the Hope Health 5K, which is run through downtown North Attleboro streets in August to benefit local hospice care --- and many others.
Morabito, in an email, explained that the race “is one of three elements of a day-long event conceptualized by the town manager” to be held Nov. 27.
On that day, he said, the town will host:
* The Leftover Turkey Trot 5K at 11 a.m.
* The traditional Santa Parade, hosted by the Downtown North Attleboro Association (DANA), at 3 p.m.
* The Downtown North Attleboro Collaborative’s (DNAC) German-style Kringle Mart from 2 to 6 p.m.
Morabito said that the collaboration with Christmas Is For Kids is an outgrowth of the town’s commitment “to improving the lives of children – especially around the holidays.
“Last year, he said, “the town staff hosted a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots event at our annual holiday party, and this year the town manager decided to partner with the Greater Attleboro Area Council for Children and their Christmas Is For Kids program.”
Morabito noted that, in putting the race together, “we specifically lowered the cost of race registration so that we could ask race participants to voluntarily donate a new, unwrapped toy. All collected toys and proceeds will go to the Christmas Is For Kids program,” he said.
The entry fee is $25, and the first 200 entrants will receive a T-shirt and finishers’ medal, both of which will be given out courtesy of North Attleboro’s Ashworth Awards.
 In addition, the top three male and female finishers will receive medals. The T-shirts and medals, Morabito said, will feature “a drawing of the allegorical figure, North Attleboro, running, with half-eaten turkey legs in both hands.”
Young designed the 5K course, which will start and finish in front of town hall on South Washington Street.
The course will send the runners down flat South Washington Street before transitioning to rolling hills on these residential streets: Metcalf, Westside, Arnold, Roosevelt Boulevard, Broadway and High. The runners will then turn onto North Washington Street for the final jaunt to the finish line at town hall.
Morabito said sponsors for the race include gold donor Bristol Wealth Group and silver donors Bristol County Savings Bank and Achin’s Garage.
Participants can sign up at runsignup.com/Race/MA/NorthAttleboro/NattleboroLeftoverTurkeyTrot.
Race-day registration will be accepted up until a few minutes before the start of the race.
Larry Kessler, a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor, can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com. He blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com