Like most longstanding Flint traditions, the Mott Park Turkey Trot has been a labor of love for volunteers over the years who have ensured the beloved race continues each Thanksgiving.
On November 27, hundreds of runners and walkers braved cold and windy conditions to begin their holiday with a 1- or 3-mile run through the Mott Park Recreation Area along the Flint River. But enduring less than ideal conditions is nothing new for people who love the race and tradition.
“There’s just something about the continuity of this race in that it happens every year and people can count on it happening every year,” said Mike Gould, a longtime cross country coach and volunteer organizer of the Turkey Trot. “One year, we had eight inches of snow, I think four overnight and four more while the race was happening, with like 30 miles an hour sideways winds. It was 20 degrees. We usually have this big extended course that uses the outside fields, and on that day we just ran the inner part of the course. We had one leader, and everyone just followed that one guy, and we still had about 150 people show up and run. It’s almost like a ritual or tradition that gives you some healing for the rough spots you went through during the year.”
The race was started by Norb Badar, a legendary track and cross country coach at Flint Northern High School for 33 years, in the 1950s. Originally, the course for the Turkey Trot was in the Woodcroft neighborhood area off of Miller Road, but moved over to Mott Park where Northern hosted its home cross country meets.
Badar, who won six state championships at Northern (four in track and two in cross country), retired in the early 1980s. Gould, who had his own successful 20-year cross country coaching career at Powers Catholic, says Badar was a friend and mentor to him when he was a young coach. He’d helped with the race for years, and eventually took it over when Badar retired, managing the course setup and race logistics while Flint Schools took care of promoting it, medals, registration, and other details.
When the school district could no longer manage the race, Mark Bauman from Bauman’s Running & Walking Shop stepped in to help with promotion and support, including medals and printing t-shirts
Proceeds from the race have supported several causes over the years, including youth sports programs, playground equipment, and other needs at St. Pius and St. John Vianney schools. For many years, Gould said that the race, which has always had an affordable registration fee compared to many other races in the area, didn’t do much more than break even. However, when he connected with Whaley Children’s Center about six years ago, and as he learned more about the organization and their needs, he said a partnership evolved to support kids living in the facility and increase the amount the race was able to raise.
“I got introduced to the people at Whaley and I thought, gosh, there’s not a better charity, a better place to help with raising funds for kids that need it,” Gould said, noting that proceeds from the race since the partnership with Whaley began have supported buying birthday presents and some Christmas for kids living there. “Some years, we only made about $1,500, but I knew a lot of people in business too and I would shamelessly ask for money at Turkey Trot time. So we got up to $2,500, then $3,500, and one year we got up to $5,000.”
Gould said that, much like the Crim Festival of Races, the Turkey Trot brings runners of all ages back to Flint each year to run. He now works with Genesee County Parks to help get the course ready, and looks forward to seeing familiar and new faces each year.
“It’s just the greatest,” he said. “It’s joyful, old friends see each other again. There’s young kids that get really serious about this race, and then people that just want a nice walk in the morning, and everything in between. They all come together for two hours or so. There’s kids that ran this race and then went off to college, and they come back and race here together.”
Gould also said that the race is a yearly showcase for the beauty that exists in Mott Park. And, as a cross country coach at heart, Gould loves that the course is not paved and is often at the mercy of the weather and elements.
“It’s like the Crim in the way that, on Crim Day, good things happen for Flint,” Gould said. “This race on Thanksgiving is another one of those times. Mott Park is this hidden gem and beautiful little park that not everyone knows about. It’s always just a perfect morning with all these people coming back together, celebrating, seeing each other again, and spending some time out there on a sloppy, muddy mess of a field.”
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