WEEKEND EVENTS FOR DECEMBER 6 - 7

While most of this weekend's races are in the St. Louis area, you can still find some within a reasonable drive from the Lake area. 

Temperatures are going to be chilly both Saturday and Sunday with morning lows near 25-30 and afternoon highs around 40-45.

Jefferson City:

Capital City Hot Chocolate 5K, Saturday

Columbia (McBaine Trailhead on Katy Trail):

Cheese & Sauerkraut 10-Miler (a predict-your-finish-time race), Saturday

Springfield:

Jingle Bell Run 5K, Saturday

Rogersville (near Springfield):

Last Chance Ultra (100M/100K/50M/50K/10M), (Ultrasignup page), Saturday

St. Louis:

Wildwood Trail Marathon & Half Marathon, Wildwood, Saturday
Wild in the Woods 5- and 10-mile trail races, Defiance (just west of St. Louis), Saturday
Santas on the Loose 5K, Webster Groves, Saturday
Santa's North Pole Dash 5K, St. Charles, Saturday
Castlewood 8-Hour Adventure Race, Saturday
Hot Chocolate Run (5K/15K), Downtown, Sunday
Bad Santa 5K, Carondelet Park, Sunday

Little Rock, Arkansas:

Jacob Wells 3 Bridges Marathon, Saturday

Panama City Beach, Florida:

Panama City Beach Marathon, Half Marathon & 5K, Saturday

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LOTO TURKEY TROT (posted November 29th)

For the second year in a row, multiple records fell at the LOTO Turkey Trot 5K & 1-Mile Fun held at Camdenton High School on Thanksgiving Day. 

The first to fall was the race turnout, with 293 5K and 65 one-mile finishers.  The total of 358 easily beat last year's record of 282.  

Race registration totaled 384 participants.  That was just barely below the all-time Lake-area record of 392 registrants at the 2014 Night Glow 5K put on by the Children's Learning Center.  (Night Glow had 327 timed finishers, including runners and walkers.  LOTO Turkey Trot only timed the 5K participants, which totaled 293.)

Last year's men's winner, Hunter Stahl, became a two-time winner, and broke his own race and course records.  Hunter is a 17 year-old cross country runner at North Point High School in Wentzville.  (He placed 23rd in the Missouri Class 5 cross country championship earlier this month, finishing in 15:54.)  He finished the Turkey Trot in 16:05, breaking his race and course records of 16:33 set last year.  (His 16:05 also ties what is believed to be the fastest 5K ever run in the Lake area, namely Casey O'Connor's victory at the 2013 Give 'Em The Bird 5K in Versailles.)

Tucker Seise was our fastest local finisher.  He crossed the line in 17:29.

The women's race record of 18:38 set last year will live another year.  Georgi Carolus, a 2023 Camdenton High School graduate and cross country runner, won this year in 19:37--over a minute ahead of her nearest rival.

Georgi was one of many current and former Camdenton High School cross country runners competing in the race.  For most of its 16 years, this race has been like a Laker cross country annual reunion. 

Complete race results can be found here.

Looking at the race results, I couldn't help but notice a lot of names I hadn't seen in any race results in a long, long time. It was especially nice to see some of my fellow geezers' names among them.

The LOTO Turkey Trot was hardly alone in experiencing a jump in participation over last year.  The table below of Thanksgiving Day Races shows that nearly every turkey trot across the state saw an increase.  The 2025 statewide total of about 40,000 was up 10% from 2024.   (I started tallying Missouri turkey trot participation numbers in 2014.  The peak year was 2018, when the total was about 43,000.) 

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THANKSGIVING DAY RACES (updated November 29th)

The biggest race day of the year in the U.S., and the last chance for runners to race in the Lake area until late February, comes up this Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

The 16th annual LOTO Turkey Trot takes place at Camdenton High School. The one-mile fun run starts at 7:45 a.m.; the 5K starts at 8:30 a.m.  Race-day registration opens at 7:00 a.m. Scroll down to the race listing at the very bottom of this column for links to all the details.

Temperatures will be in the low to mid 30s on Thursday morning.  Fortunately, the breezy and gusty winds on Tuesday and Wednesday should be gone by Wednesday night.

For those of you traveling for Thanksgiving, here's a virtually complete list of the turkey trots taking place across Missouri.  (Events without an active web link are no longer held.)

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