Thanksgiving Day, the biggest running day in the US, saw records shattered in 2025. In all, 1,330,726 people registered for 1,056 races across the country and raising more than $3.1 million dollars for charities. That represents a participation increase of 20% (220,817 people) compared to the previous record for Thanksgiving 2024. Taking a closer look at the 2025 Turkey Trots, the participation increase is due to a mix of factors, including growing market share on RunSignup, new turkey trots entering the market, and per-race growth.
On Thursday, we shared key infrastructure stats looking at how RunSignup handled the rush. Today, we dive a little deeper into the participation numbers and trends. If you’re in a hurry, jump ahead to your key topic:
Thanksgiving By the Numbers
What is A Turkey Trot?
Turkey Trot Race Day
Thanksgiving Day 2025: By the Numbers
How Many 2025 Turkey Trots (and Turkey Trot Participants) Were There?
The headline: Thanksgiving Day races on RunSignup continues to grow, and participation has more than doubled since the post-pandemic rebound in 2021.
We can only report on races using RunSignup. For context, the last time a national, cross-platform report on turkey trots was released was 2016, when Running USA reported that there were 726 races and 961,882 finishers. That data was based on timed finishers whereas we report on registrants to capture untimed events. Additionally, it’s likely some events on small platforms were missed. Regardless, the fact that 2025 participants on RunSignup far exceeded all reported finishers from 2016 suggests that turkey trots have continued to increase in popularity.
How Big Were the 2025 Turkey Trots?
Throughout the year, most races are small, with 89.6% of race weekends hosting fewer than 500 participants. Thanksgiving Day, on the other hand, provides larger race experiences. Thirty-seven percent of Thanksgiving Day races exceeded 1,000 participants. In comparison, just 5.2% of all 2024 races had more than 1,000 participants.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t also turkey trots in small and mid-sized communities. Forty-two percent of Thanksgiving Day races having fewer than 500 participants.
Are Turkey Trots Actually Growing?
Where did the increase in registrations for 2025 turkey trots come from? This is an imperfect science, but we do we track the the source of new events on our platform as well as per-race growth, and have identified three areas responsible for increasing registration.
Increasing Market Share
First, RunSignup continues to increase registration market share. Fifty-two Thanksgiving Day races with more than 100 participants moved to RunSignup from other platforms (or started using online registration for the first time) in 2024. In contrast, just 8 events moved from RunSignup to another platform. While we are grateful for new business, this doesn’t really tell us if Turkey Trots are growing.
New Races
New races are still entering the market. We identified at least 48 races that appear to be inaugural turkey trots in 2025. In comparison, just 10 races that had at least 100 participants in 2024 were cancelled in 2025. In other words, the number of turkey trots across the country is likely increasing.
Per-Race Growth
Finally we want to understand if existing races are growing. For this, we compare the participation numbers only amongst the group of races that were on our platform in consecutive years. Per-race growth in 2025 was strong, with races up an average of 11% compared to 2024. That’s the third straight year that races have seen double-digit growth!
Large races grew the least, following a pattern we’ve seen since we started tracking it post-COVID. Smaller races with more room to expand saw faster growth.
This report only includes races that remained on the platform and renewed their race rather than creating a new race.
In conclusion, the continued record-breaking numbers are a combined impact of increasing market share for RunSignup, new races entering the market, and existing races growing.
In 2025, the average turkey trot had 1,260 participants, a record since we started tracking Turkey Trots in 2017.
Where Were The Turkey Trots?
For the first time, all 50 states (and Washington DC) had at least one Turkey Trot in 2025, with South Dakota as the final state to add one.
California, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Virginia led the way with more than 50 turkey trots each, while South Dakota offered just one Thanksgiving Day race on RunSignup.
What Is a Turkey Trot?
There are races within a week of the Thanksgiving Day that are named “Turkey Trot” and some Thanksgiving Day races do not include that phrase. However, for the purposes of this report we consider 2025 turkey trots to be all races that take place on Thanksgiving Day.
What Distance Is a Turkey Trot?
In general, turkey trots skew towards short races, with many offering multiple distances for an inclusive experience. Events of about 5K (including 3 mile races) are the most popular, with 91% of turkey trots a 5K. After that, the most popular events were 1 mile (21%), 10Ks (12%), and kids-only races of under 1 mile (24%).
What’s In the Name “Turkey Trot”?
Turkey trotting is about more than the name. Of the 1,056 races on RunSignup on Thanksgiving morning, 64% include the actual words “Turkey Trot”, while another 11% reference the turkeys without the “trot”. Other names that are seen multiple times include the words “Thanksgiving” (9%), and Gobble Wobble (3%).
Are Turkey Trots Virtual?
Virtual participation continues to decline in post-COVID years, although it still exceeds pre-pandemic years. Fewer than 1% of participants opted for a virtual race in 2025. Regardless, as long as the virtual option has low overhead, it can be a worthwhile option to allow family members to run “together” even when they can’t be together.
The Charitable Impact of Turkey Trots
A majority (76%) of all 2025 turkey trots raised money for one or more charity through donations. All-told, participants and donors raised a total of $3,175,111.51 for charity via races held on Thanksgiving Day. That total represents money donated, only (through 11/30/2025). With some races donating some race proceeds as well, we know the real charitable impact of these events is even greater.
On average, the 801 races with donations enabled raised an average of $3,963.93. The sky is the limit, though – several fundraising-focused events with fundraisers enabled raised more than $200,000 each.
Turkey Trot RaceDay
RaceDay CheckIn App
No one wants to start their Thanksgiving waiting in line. To help, RunSignup’s RaceDay CheckIn App, streamlined the race experience for nearly three quarters of all participants. In 2025, 58% of races used the app to check in 72% of Thanksgiving Day participants. That’s more than 900,000 participants checked in by the RaceDay CheckIn App in a single morning.
No-Show Rate
The no-show rate is typically challenging for us to gauge because races use a variety of results platforms and check-in processes. However, with the increasing number of races using the RaceDay CheckIn app,we have enough volume to get a rough idea of the no-show rate.
For 2025 turkey trots that appeared to have used the CheckIn App throughout their race pickup, an average of 94% of all participants showed up on race morning, an impressive turnout for a busy holiday morning.
Results Notifications
Results notifications sent grew 36% in 2025, with a quarter of all races sending split and/or finish notifications. Races are sending more notifications on average, too, with an average of 2,389 notifications sent by each race. With the modern expectation of instant results, notifications ensure participants and spectators are satisfied, instantly.
RaceDay Photos
RunSignup’s free RaceDay Photo platform extends the race day fun, with participants returning to race websites to relive their glory. On Thanksgiving Day 2025, more than 120,000 photos were uploaded by 224 races, with more to be added in the coming days.
For an even faster, more efficient race experience, races in 2025 utilized the Mobile Timing App with Photo Integration to upload photos directly from the app. In it’s inaugural turkey trot year, the Mobile Timing app uploaded more than 28,000 race day photos.
Summary: Good News!
Thanksgiving day races show no sign of slowing anytime soon, with record numbers across all indicators for 2025 Turkey Trots. As you look ahead to 2026, look for more opportunities to create family-friendly, tradition-focused races throughout your race calendar.
Want more good news? Read a few of our favorite stories about turkey trots in 2025:
- Austin’s 35th Turkey Trot sees record-breaking turnout
- Thousands pause Thanksgiving cooking to take part in Turkey Trots benefitting The Y
- Runners and walkers ready to face freezing temps for 23rd annual Drumstick Dash
- ‘Madison’s favorite Thanksgiving tradition’ returns: Birdie Derby donates all proceeds
- Thousands of runners race Sandy’s streets to support ending Utah’s food insecurity