Pre-Game Turkey Trot Set For Thanksgiving Morning In Haddonfield

HADDONFIELD, NJ — A new Thanksgiving tradition is taking hold in Haddonfield. The second annual Haddons Pre-Game Turkey Trot 5K and Fun Run will take place on Thanksgiving morning, before the game between Haddonfield Memorial High School and Haddon Heights.

The only such run held in Camden County on Thanksgiving steps off at Crows Woods on Thursday, Nov. 28, 8 a.m. The event is organized by Teams Work for Good, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Haddonfield. The event benefits Kids Alley and Smiles for Kara.

Kids Alley is a nonprofit ethics-based organization that has been reaching out to inner-city children and their families in Camden, NJ since 1998. Among other programs, Kids Alley runs after school programs for elementary school children in Camden. With the assistance of Dave Welsh of the Haddonfield Running Company, proceeds from last year’s Haddon’s Pre-Game Turkey Trot were used to buy new running sneakers for about 50 kids in the after school program.

Smiles for Kara is a non-profit based in Voorhees that raises money to provide opportunity to underprivileged/special needs children in Camden County and the surrounding areas via financial assistance for, but not limited to sports fees, scholarship money and extra-curricular activities.

The run is chip timed and a turkey will be awarded to the overall male and female winners. Age group winners (10 and under; 11 to 14; 15 to 19; 20-29; 30 to 39; 40 to 49; 50 to 59; 60 to 69; and 70 and over) will receive fresh baked pies.

Pre-race packet pick-up will be on Nov, 26, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Nov. 27, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Haddonfield Running Company, 121 Kings Highway East in Haddonfield. Race day registration will take place at the race site in Crow's Woods beginning at 6 a.m. T-shirts are guaranteed for the first 400 registrants for the 5k.

Haddonfield Memorial High School senior Grace Winter is one of Teams Work for Good's 19 founding members, who were all 14 and 15 years old when they founded the organization in 2016. They are all 17 and 18 now. Winter said the event is “all about community.”

“We hope the Turkey Trot becomes a tradition like the Thanksgiving Day game itself,” Winter said. “ … It is a great way to give back on Thanksgiving.”

Teams Work for Good was established in 2016 as a vehicle for community service and to raise money for worthy charities. Teams Work for Good also seeks to develop its members as individuals who value service and are engaged in their communities.

The Thanksgiving Day football game has been a tradition since 1902, and has been played every year since 1922. Haddonfield leads the series, 61-42, with six ties.

It was featured among the best high school football rivalries in America by Sports Illustrated. Matt Chando, of NJ Advance Media, described the annual game as “exactly the reason high school football is played. It is teamwork and community personified. And all of it is set against the fall foliage, crisp air and confluence of two Rockwellesque communities. On a day we’re all meant to give thanks, this game is a true blessing.”

The 111th meeting kicks off at 11 a.m. Thanksgiving morning at Haddon Heights.