BOZEMAN, Mont,- Each year runners gather outside of the Museum of the Rockies ready to set off on either a 5k or 10k.
Racers flood through the starting arch as the turkey’s gobble blares through the speakers. Thanksgiving Day is typically a time for rest and lots of food but in Bozeman, runners take to the streets first before the feast.
Runners dressed up in all sorts of Thanksgiving costumes including pumpkin pies and turkeys.
One of the running groups, the Bozeman High School Cross Country team kept their costume tradition alive. In the past, they have made tree and train costumes out of cardboard. This year they carried a cardboard boat and had Vikings hats atop their heads.
“This actually got our fastest time,” said Andrew Holleman,
“Yeah, we actually beat our time from last year by like two minutes. In the boat,” said Renn Meuwissen.
“It was definitely the horns,” said Holleman.
Even though it was an award breaking day that doesn’t mean the journey was easy.
“As we learned very quickly This boat is not really meant to last long. So it came with a lot of obstacles that you can work your way through,” said Simon Rosenzweig
“We had to finish as a team cause you know it’s great when you do,” said Shad Clark.
Over the course of eleven years, Huffing for Stuffing has raised close to half a million dollars all which will go towards running the Gallatin Valley Food Bank for the holiday season.
“First of all just the community support is wonderful,” said Gallatin Valley Food Bank’s Jill Holder. “But the amount of money helps our food bank immensely it is around a sixth of our budget.”
4,097 people participated this year and $13,618.40 was raised, not including the registration fees.
