Runners take off at the start of the Falcon 5K Turkey Trot Thursday in Avon outside of Thompson Brook School.
AVON, Nov. 23, 2023 – The tradition of a Thanksgiving Day road race in Avon is growing. Nearly 500 runners came out on Thursday for the first Falcon 5K Turkey Trot at Thompson Brook School.
It’s the largest Thanksgiving Day race in Avon, eclipsing the crowd of 345 runners that came out in 2021.
Simsbury’s Luke Davis won the race with a time of 16:05 for 3.0 miles while Rocky Hill’s Elizabeth Stockman won the race for the third straight year with a time of 16:49, her fastest time yet on the course.
For the past five years, the race was known as the Bottoms Up 5K Turkey Trot with proceeds donated to hospitals, medical centers and pediatric centers for IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) and physician’s offices to help patients and families with expenses related with Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis.
But Dawn Zavalishin, who founded the race and ran it, offered the race to the Avon Booster Club, who sponsored the race with proceeds going to the Avon High cross country program.
“She gifted us this race and she is still one of the major sponsors,” Falcon 5K Turkey Trot race director Deanna Bisaillon said. “She helped us organize the race.”
Each year there are plenty of families out for a run before their Thanksgiving Day feasts. There seemed to be even more youngsters from the Avon school system out for a run.
“We’re very excited to start this tradition,” Bisaillon said. “We want to come back each year and get bigger and bigger.”
Simsbury’s Luke Davis won the Falcon 5K Turkey Trot Thursday for the first time.
Several local businesses had tents on the Thompson Brook School grounds and Rhapsody, an acappella singing group, sank the national anthem before the race began.
Davis, a senior at Simsbury High, was challenged throughout the race but pulled away in the last mile. Greg Schreoder was second with a time of 16:36, 31 seconds behind Davis. William Armbruster of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., who won the race a year ago, finished third.
“It was a lot of fun,” Davis said. “It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. There are rolling hills that looked a lot flatter when I drove the course.
“But it was still a quick course. The finish was a little harder because it was uphill and then flat. The crowd was great. At different places on the course, there were people cheering and extremely supportive. It was great,” he said.
Davis didn’t have the senior season he had hoped to have at Simsbury. He had a bone bruise on his foot and had to take some time off. “Once you do that, your (training) base is gone and you have to build it back up,” he said. “I spent the cross country season building up. My foot feels good and I feel happy about.”
Stockman was the top runner for the University of Richmond women’s cross country this fall. She finished fourth at the Atlantic 10 Conference championships and earned All-Conference honors. She helped her team qualify for the NCAA Division I Southeast Regional championship meet.
She enjoyed the challenge of staying with the lead runners in the race. Stockman was fourth overall in 16:49, just 10 seconds behind Armbruster and 44 seconds behind Davis.
“It was awesome,” she said. “It’s always a fun race to do. It was a good day to run fast. A few guys were pushing me. They took it out and they were ready to run fast.”
Avon’s Erin McGuire was the No. 2 woman in the race, finishing 16th overall with a time of 19:51.
Elizabeth Stockman won a Thanksgiving Day race in Avon for the third straight year on Thursday.
Falcon 5K Turkey Trot
At Avon
Top 10 runners – Luke Davis, Simsbury, 16:05 for 3.0 miles, 2. Greg Schroeder, 16:36; 3. William Armbruster, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., 16:39; 4. Elizabeth Stockman, Rocky Hill, 16:49; 5. Pat Dennen, 17:35; 6. Kevin Verge, 18:10; 7. Caleb Davis, Simsbury, 18:26; 8. John Pierangeli, 18:30; 9. Brahm Bulow, Avon, 18:46; 10. Colin Shea 18:48
Top 10 women: Elizabeth Stockman (4th overall), Rocky Hill, 16:49 for 3.0 miles; 2. Erin McGuire (16), Avon, 19:51; 3. Rachael Rosow (20), Avon, 20:25; 4. Kristen Hassig (29), 21:16; 5. Rachel Fischler (31), 21:31; 6. Eleanor Fisher (32), 7. Sara Zuba (39), 8. Kathryn Hassig (41); 9. Charlotte Preuss (49), 10.
