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WARREN -- City officials are happy to have the Warren Kiwanis Turkey Trot coming to Warren this Thanksgiving, Nov. 26. It is one of several races coming to the city this year.
Turkey Trot race director Ted Rupe said having the finish line in Mollenkopf Stadium at Warren G. Harding High School will offer amenities such as stadium seating and a video board to display runners as they finish the race.
The 48th annual Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot includes a 5-mile run, 2-mile run/walk and 1K fun run, all starting and ending at the stadium and Warren G. Harding Student Recreation and Wellness Center, 860 Elm Road NE.
The 1K fun runs starts at 8:30, followed by the 2 mile run/walk at 9 a.m., and the 5K run starting at 10 a.m.
Rupe said that shortly after last year's event, race organizers were notified that when the new Mercy Health Emergency Room opens on Educational Highway near Kent State University at Trumbull and the Trumbull Career & Technical Center, race officials would no longer be able to close Educational Highway as part of the Turkey Trot race course.
"We knew that we would need to be looking for another facility to host the event," Rupe said Monday. Organizers contacted Warren G. Harding High School and were very impressed by the school district's positive response. He called the Harding facilities "incredible."
He added that "Using Harding as the staging area for the start and finish also enables us to set the courses up to showcase the beautiful and historic downtown area of Warren." Both the 5-mile run and 2-mile runs pass through Courthouse Square. And the 5-mile run continues out of Courthouse Square, past Veterans Memorial Park, Warren City Hall and the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, into Perkins Park, past the Warren Community Amphitheatre and other notable Warren landmarks, Rupe said.
Both courses start in the driveway near the Paul Warfield statue at Harding High School and turn left onto Elm Road and right onto High Street to Courthouse Square. But the 2-mile course returns from Courthouse Square to the finish line at the Harding High stadium.
The 5-mile course turns right on High Street at Courthouse Square onto to Mahoning Avenue, left onto Perkins Drive, then through Perkins Park and through various streets north of Trumbull Regional Medical Center before ending at the football stadium.
At last week's Warren City Council meeting, Warren Safety Service Director Eddie Colbert said the Turkey Trot is one of several outdoor events moving to the city this year.
NorthMar Church also hosted its WALK. RUN. BIKE. MAKE A DIFFERENCE event Oct. 24 in the city, and another local running group also has asked to host a run in the city.
Colbert said interest by local groups in holding their outdoor events in the city is because of the continuous improvements being made in the city "to make it somewhere that is a destination that they want to bring their events." He mentioned the new footbridge at Perkins Park.
Details on the Turkey Trot, including maps for the three runs, are on the Gopher A Run website.