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Lehigh Valley Live: Runners suit up for festive Turkey Trot 5K in Bethlehem (PHOTOS)
December 8th, 2016 | In The News
Written by Steve Novak for Lehigh Valley Live
Don’t question the turkey hats.
“You have to take this seriously,” explained Dan Soos, who, with his 9-year-old son Connor, of Macungie, sported matching chapeaus resembling roasted birds, legs facing forward. “They’re aerodynamic.”
It’s a tradition, the elder Soos said, to run the Historic Turkey Trot 5K, which had festive runners lining up Saturday morning in Bethlehem’s Colonial Industrial Quarter. It was Conner’s first 5K.
Alyssa Clark and Whitney Butler, both of Bethlehem, took their race attire one step further — each wore a full-body turkey suit. Their reasons had less to do with “aerodynamics” and more to do with the spirit of the season: To “bring a smile,” Butler said.
Will Alpaugh, an 18-year-old Freedom High School alumnus, passed on the holiday garb en route to a first-place finish with a time of 16:44. But he said the race — which benefits Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites — is still a tradition for him. Saturday was his fifth Turkey Trot, and his first time with a top finish.
Lennert Versteeg, of Copenhagen, Denmark, traveled the farthest to run Saturday. He said he was visiting a friend in Bethlehem: “I saw the race and I said, OK, let’s do the Turkey Trot.”
