Above: The Pichette family before the race. 

Following the demolition of Pal’s Restaurant on Division Street earlier this year, the start/finish for this year’s EG Hill & Harbour Turkey Trot moved to the eastern section of Queen Street just up the hill from Water Street, which meant the race started with a downhill and ended on an uphill.

The change didn’t slow down first place finisher Ben Fazio, EGHS Class of 2013, who has been running and winning or near winning the 5K for a decade. On Saturday, Fazio had no competition, finishing with a time of 15:51, more than two and a half minutes in front of second place finisher David Hayes, 16, who had a time of 18:30. The third place finisher was another teenager, Seth Aitken, 15, who ran a 18:37.

The top female finisher was Beth Blendell, 38, who ran a 18:58, with Kaylee Gladu, 23, close behind at 19:02. Placing third was Kelsee Gladu, 23, with a time of 20:11. Kaylee and Kelsee are identical twins from Woonsocket. The youngest boy and girl finishers in the top 40 were Micah Dru, 12, a student of Cole Middle School, who placed 21st with a time of 20:47 and Olive Willis, 10, who placed 38th with at time of 22:12.

You can find all the results of the 5K HERE.

This year’s beneficiary of the race, which was coordinated (again!) by Amy Moore and sponsored by the EG Chamber of Commerce and the Closet Factory, was the Military Families Fund.

Santa (aka Steven Timperley), Trotter (aka Trotter), and Abominable Snowman (aka Griffen Gee).

The 2023 runners are off, with eventual winner Ben Fazio (in blue) already stepping out ahead.

Oliveia & Lily Shaughnessy at the start of the race.

Runners head down Queen Street at the start.

From left: Katrina Timperley, Stephen (Santa) Timperley, Mark Timperley, and Harrison Timperley. Stephen and his dad, Mark, both ran. Photo by Griffen Gee