A Record Turnout for Montauk Turkey Trots

One thousand and seventy-four finishers were thankful for the good weather in Montauk on Thanksgiving Day, turning out in record numbers for the East Hampton Town Recreation Department-sponsored 3- and 6-mile “turkey trots” around Fort Pond.

It was the 49th year for the popular annual event that John Keeshan began in 1976, running in the company of seven others on Thanksgiving Day from downtown Montauk out to the Deep Hollow Ranch and back.

“The turnout was huge, huge … the start time had to be pushed back 10 minutes because people were still getting their numbers. It certainly seemed like a record,” said Barbara Gubbins, who was pleased with her 8-minute mile pace in the 6. “Any time you don’t have winds in Montauk is good,” she added.

John Rooney, the Town Rec Department superintendent, said afterward that the number of registrants — 1,294 — and the number of runners and walkers — 1,074 — were records, as presumably will be the race’s net proceeds that are to be apportioned among East Hampton’s food pantries.

Sean Grossman, a 29-year-old part-time Sag Harbor resident, who recently ran the New York City Marathon in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 41 seconds — presumably a record insofar as local long-distance runners are concerned — finishing 70th among the some 59,000 entrants, won the 3-miler in 16:08.94, leaving intact the record 14.41.37 that he ran in his debut last year.

A member of the Brooklyn Track Club, Grossman ran at the University of Miami and at Deer Park High School before that. Another Brooklyn Track Club member, Tim Rossi, 33, won the 6 miler, as he has numerous times in the past, in 32:18.98. He and Grossman each glided along at a 5:23-per-mile pace.

Perhaps for the first time, the second and third-place finishers in the 6-miler were women — Penelope Greene, 22, of Sag Harbor, in 34:56.97, a recent All-American State University at Geneseo and Pierson High School graduate, and Erin Gregoire, 28, in 36:19.01. An 8-year-old, Carter Kochanasz, whose primary athletic pursuits are ice hockey and roller hockey, placed 12th in 41:38.76. Pilar Rossi, 23, won among the women — and was 17th overall — in the 3-miler.

Local age group winners in the 3 mile race were: Kochanasz of East Hampton, 10-and-under; Elle Earls of Bridgehampton, 11-14; Lincoln Fischer of Sag Harbor, 15-19; Eric Perez of Montauk, 20-29; Whitney Aliperti of Montauk and Jack Palmer of Montauk, 30-39; Brooke Bohnsack of Amagansett, 40-49, and Lisa Craig of Amagansett and Andy Ring of Montauk, 60-69.

The 6-miler’s local age group winners were: Kochanasz, 19-and-under; Jean Marie Poster of Montauk and Edwin Palacios of Montauk 40-49; Phil Zrihen of East Hampton, 50-59; Barbara Gubbins of Southampton, 60-69, and Julie Frayer of Bridgehampton, 70-99.

“Penelope was a big star,” said the 65-year-old Gubbins, who in age-graded terms was the second-fastest female in the 6, at 34:57. “When you get older, your ‘age-graded’ times are all you can look at,” she said, “your outright winning days being long gone.”

Asked if her daughter Megan’s Portuguese water dog, Aldo, had been a participant, as he has been in the past, Gubbins said, “No, it said on the website ‘no dogs,’ and that’s probably for the best, though I’m sure he would have liked to have been there.”

As for the Turkey Trots’ 50th anniversary next year, “we should all make a point to get out there,” she said, adding that this Saturday, the day of the Santa parade in East Hampton Village, there will be an ugly sweater run with Edwin Garcia’s Hamptons Run Club at the Gubbins Running Ahead store on Park Place that her son, Geary, manages.

“We’ll start the run, down to Main Beach and back, at the store at 8 a.m.,” Geary Gubbins said. “The runner with the best outfit will get a free pair of HOKA running shoes, and, hopefully, Santa will pay us a visit.”