Featured Running Event of the Week : The Gobbler Classic

The Gobbler Classic is the annual 5k race held at Faith Church in Dyer on........

Thanksgiving Morning at 7:00am.  An early start so runners and walkers can return home to prepare the dinner, get ready for the dinner, travel to family and friends, or just watch football.

The event starts at Faith Church and immediately crosses into a nearby neighborhood.  The route is completely along wide paved streets, and due to the earliness of the day, relatively empty streets.  The neighborhood is a nice quiet suburban neighborhood with some minor uphill and downhill.  The course has several turns to keep it interesting and very few long straight sections.  The route eventually cross back over towards the church, where the route has a fun finish.

As runners feel they are approaching the finish line, they find they are actually on the first leg of a horseshoe, after several yards they u-turn back to the finish line.  This makes for a spectator-filled fun finish, as family and friends can gather within the horseshoe and cheer participants on for much of the homestretch.

Interesting is the early start time in the "winter/fall" months, where all participants arrived before sunrise, and the race starts just as the sun is starting to peak the horizon.  Not dark enough for headlamps, but not really all the bright either.  After a few blocks, it becomes morning lighting.  But this makes for that hard-to-find "twilight" run, but in the morning.

Even though it did rain in 2015 - the event still drew well over 700 participants, many in short sleeves, some even in shorts!!

Pre-race activities occur within Faith Church in a large hall where fellowship abounds.  Post race food and awards also take place in the same hall.  Participants are all invited to join the Thanksgiving Day worship service following the event.

A very well run event, with excellent volunteers on the course and in the hall!