First-Ever Turkey Trot Raises $4,300 For Special Olympics

The Anytime Fitness first annual Turkey Trot, held on Thanksgiving morning, raised $4,300 to benefit Sullivan Special Olympics, according to Maggie Heidbrink, owner of Anytime Fitness.

“Our first annual Turkey Trot couldn’t have done any better as we had 142 people register for the event, 123 running Thanksgiving morning and 20 corporate sponsors,” said Heidbrink. “We are looking to present a check to Sullivan Special Olympics this week for $4,300.”

Heidbrink stated that she was hoping to raise $2,000 to $3,000 for Special Olympics but was thrilled at the $4,300 raised. 

Special Olympics is a nationwide charity being served by Anytime Fitness across the country with the local proceeds raised by Sullivan Anytime Fitness going to Sullivan Special Olympics program.

“We were so nervous doing our first event but overall everything was great from the participants to the volunteers to the sponsors to volunteers, it just couldn’t have gone any better in my opinion,” said Heidbrink. “People seemed to have enjoyed it along with several families who thought it was awesome to be able to run in a Turkey Trot in their hometown rather than traveling out of town.”

The second annual Turkey Trot in Sullivan is scheduled for Thursday, November 26.

“We hope to increase our participant numbers even more as we go forward in our second year and would like to grow this to a 500-600 person event,” said Heidbrink.

The race featured the men’s overall winner of Chris Erxleben and women’s overall winner Jill Wagner.