2019 Pinedale Turkey Trot News
by R. Craig Sheppard
December 2, 2019
170 registered turkey trotters toed the line for the 29th annual Pinedale Turkey Trot.
The temperature was 26 degrees at the start of the race with a strong wind coming out of the southeast to make the morning seem colder. We lucked out with the weather, being we had a storm the day before and then a bigger storm the day after the race. The warming fires were a big hit this year. Still the beautiful 3-mile adventure on the "over the river and through the woods" course was thrilling.
Ellen Sheppard was in charge of the hospitality garage and she had plenty of warm coffee and cold water ready for the early birds. She also manned the finish line, took pictures and directed runners and walkers where to put in their finish times. This event would not be possible without her. This year the Pinedale High School ski team had a fundraiser table with hot chocolate and baked goods. A big thank you goes out to Kirk Thomas of Salt Lake City, who provided the special coffee again this year.
As usual there were all types of exercisers participating. We had participants from 6-month Nell Fairbanks to 5 trotters in their 70’s. We had walkers, runners, run/walkers, trotters, and baby strollers. A family trio of Jennifer, Clara and Jeremy Kunzman came in in an overall 9th place while pushing a stroller. Aaron Stewart once again rode his unicycle around the course in a remarkable time of 27:25. Despite the road conditions, across the region, there were still people from 4 different states and 6 towns or cities in Wyoming. There were also plenty of dogs around to help pull their owners through the course. If we added the canines to our list of participants we would have been close to 200 involved.
Even though this is a fun run/walk we would like to recognize a few individuals. Mike Lutz of Pinedale came in first with a time of 19:54 followed by Kris Holmes in 20:49 and Pinedale high schooler Kaleb Bigelow (22:55).
Jennifer Kunzman won the women’s division with a time of 24:39, followed by Jamie Lunberg (26:13) and Summer Lunberg (26:14). All of our hardy participants are winners for getting out and getting some exercise on such a perfect Pinedale morning.
The walking division is the hardest one to judge on whether they walked the entire course or ran and walked it and it is definitely the largest division. Again this year the first true walker was Karen Stewart in 39:44.
This year there was a lot of school age participants. It is so good to see so many out doing physical activity. Many were in strollers when they first participated in this trot. Maybe someday they will be named as the winner of the Pinedale Turkey Trot. If not just being out and pushing their limits on a beautiful Pinedale morning will be a great Thanksgiving memory.
I know there are many names not mentioned in this article, but it is fun to see so many friends, families, school alumni, former band students and visitors gathering to take in the beautiful scenery and fresh air of Pinedale. Thanks go out to the Pinedale schools for use of their tables, bull horn and cones, Pinedale Half Marathon for use of their timer and also to the Pinedale newspapers, banks and Pinedale Online for advertising. I especially need to thank my wife Ellen for putting up with my many passions of which one is running the Pinedale Turkey Trot.
This was the 29th running of the Pinedale Turkey Trot and with all the favorable comments it seems to have developed into a great annual tradition for the Pinedale community and their Thanksgiving guests. Don’t forget it is never too late to get in shape for the 30th annual Pinedale Turkey Trot which will be held Thanksgiving morning 2020 at the Sheppard’s house at 9AM. See you then!
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