For nearly six decades, Mesa families have started Thanksgiving the same way: laced up at Red Mountain Park, breath fogging in the desert morning, waiting for the horn. The Mesa Turkey Trot is Arizona's original Thanksgiving Day race — a tradition older than most of the people running it — and it's built on a simple idea: earn your feast, and do some good while you're at it.
Pick your distance. A chip-timed 10K, a 5K, or a 1-mile Fun Run the whole family can walk together. Strollers, wheelchairs, and leashed dogs all welcome. Every finisher crosses to a custom medal, a tech tee, and a pre- and post-race brunch. Then you go home and eat everything.
Where your registration goes: The Turkey Trot is the Mesa Sertoma Club's signature fundraiser. Sertoma — short for Service to Mankind — has spent over a century helping people hear, speak, and thrive: from providing hearing aids to families who can't afford them, to supporting local youth and veterans. When you run on Thanksgiving morning, you fund that work. It's the rare race where the medal isn't the point.
Not running? There's still a spot for you — and Thanksgiving morning at the finish line is the best seat in the house.
Register for the 2026 Mesa Turkey Trot →
