While many in town celebrate Thanksgiving by running to the table for seconds of turkey, some of your classmates and neighbors have been running in a different direction. The Annual Pelham Half Marathon has been hosted during Thanksgiving weekend for the past five years. The tradition continued this year with founders Louise Kelly, Todd Cross, Jason Jeffries and Joanne Gambone organizing the event. The Half Marathon quickly grew, gaining so much traction that it is now a sponsored event. This year the run raised $10,000.

“Over the first four years the race grew steadily. Two years ago there were 200 people. Last year there were 400. This year we had over 800 people. We think it has gotten so popular because people like being part of community events in their town, especially in a town like Pelham,” Ms. Kelly said.

Most of the high school’s cross country team also participates in the race. In fact they compete so successfully that the committee considered renaming the event “The Annual Matt Baffuto Challenge” because of the former PMHS runner’s success in years past. This year, Henry Driesen placed 18th in the men’s section of the half marathon.

“I think the reason so many people enjoy running the half marathon is because the course is so nice and it basically takes you through a tour of the town. It is also so impressive that they can fit 13 square miles into 2,” Henry said.

For those who felt that 13 miles was too much, there was a separate 10k event (6.2 miles) in which a few of PMHS’ own students participated in. Stephen Tabhaz placed 1st and Daniel Tahbaz came in 3rd in the under 19 age group.

With the event almost doubling this year, the Pelham half Marathon is now becoming one of the most popular Pelham community events.