SHELBURNE, Vt. — October 2, 2026 — The 2026 Apple Harvest 10K brought 132 runners to Shelburne Town Beach on a beautiful fall morning, with temperatures in the upper 50s, an overcast sky, and brisk winds from the north.

The 10K started at 9 a.m. from Shelburne Town Beach and followed the lakeshore to the turnaround at Charlotte Town Beach before returning to the finish. Runners benefited from a strong tailwind during the first three miles, while the north wind made the return trip more challenging.

Amos Karlsen of Burlington led the field, winning the men’s overall race in 33:57. Kate Nourse of Essex Junction was the first female finisher, crossing the line in 39:07. Avery LaPlante of Burlington, N.C. was the first non-binary finisher in 48:59.

The Apple Harvest 10K also featured some traditional post-race treats and prizes. Finishers were welcomed with apple crisp and ice cream, while age-group winners received apple and other pies. A random prize drawing added another opportunity for participants to take home a little something from the day’s festivities.

Race Director Ruth Blauwiekel credited the race’s many volunteers with helping make the event a success.

“It’s a tremendous amount of work to put on a race like this, and we couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” Blauwiekel said. “We’re grateful to everyone who gave their time to make the Apple Harvest 10K such a great event.”

This year’s volunteer crew included Sal Acosta, Steve Andrews, Tony Bates, Liz Buchanan, Russ Cooke, Patrick Henry, Seth Kutikoff, Gordon MacFarland, Jess Marini, Ian McCallum-Cook, Alex McHenry, Nik Ponzio, Elle Scollard, Ila Sewell, Kristina Sweet, Silas Talbot, and Curt Taylor.

The race was also photographed by Lee Krohn of Lee Krohn Photography, whose images captured the day’s runners, scenery, and community atmosphere.

> Race Results

> Race Photos

On the bright, sunny day of November 27 th, 2025, GMAA’s 49 th annual Turkey Trot was upon us. The air was thick with anticipation as the volunteers eagerly set up registration tables, raffle prizes, food bins for Feeding Chittenden, and the timing and sound equipment for the annual event. Upon glancing at the RunSignUp list the night before, 965 participants had preregistered (last year was 535 pre-registered!) but on a temperate, sunny day like last Thursday, who could resist signing up? Set up was quick and flawless as Brad Sleeper, Anthony Downes, and Jan Leja ran off to mark the course and those inside set up the tables, chairs, and distributed registration papers, signed their volunteer forms, and put out course maps for the viewer’s pleasure. Around 9:15 am, the doors to Gutterson arena opened and in flooded hordes of trotters quickly making their way to the registration tables. However, with Tim Richmond,
Steve Merrill, Alissa Wilson, and Patrick Henry at the helm, there was little to worry about. As quickly as the racers arrived, food bins immediately started filling up with piles and piles of donated food for Feeding Chittenden, the local food shelf. It’s possible that Tim Richmond moves quicker when food is involved than he does otherwise as he motored through stacking, organizing, shifting, and moving cans, boxes, and bags of food items at record speed.

As time passed, more and more runners/trotters arrived. Many of the trotters had brought their young ones for the kid’s race, which was put on without setbacks and was led by GMAA’s very own, Turkey Ron! (Cleveland). Turkey Ron arrived in full Turkey suit and swiftly sprinted ahead of even the fastest youths to make sure that everyone followed the cones like one might do in gym class, if that even exists anymore. The kid’s race finished with last second sprints, laughter, and some tears but suffice to say, everyone in the kid’s race ran a PR!

At approximately 9:50 am, the runners/trotters were directed to make their way to the starting line by another seasoned veteran, Gordan MacFarland who graciously took to the microphone for the 15, 10, 5-minute countdown to the race start. At the starting line, race participants stretched back as far as the side doors to the arena, making a large ‘C’ shape down the bike path. It was later confirmed that 1,076 racers were registered to participate in the Turkey
Trot that day, which is about 300 more runners than last year. At the start of the race, we recounted how grateful we were to have everyone out there, runners, trotters, sponsors, and volunteers alike to participate in the Turkey Trot this year, especially with UVM’s Gutterson arena, bike path, and amenities at our disposal. At 10 am, the racers were off.

To no surprise, fast times were run with Gage Magnusen taking the victory with a time of 16:23 with Trevor Houches right on his heels with a time of 16:34, both runners being participants of the BFA Fairfax cross country team. Not too far behind them were about ten more male-identifying runners under 17:30 including GMAA’s Jurdan Mossburg who ran around a 17:10. Less than two minutes later, Loghan Huges came flying up the path with a time of 19:03,
which was the winning female time. Interestingly enough, Loghan had come in third the year before with a time of 20:09 so she was over a minute faster! The second-place woman, Megan Owens, held her own on the course with a time of around 19:10(ish). Unfortunately, we were not able to identify the 1 st and 2 nd place winners of the non-binary category despite making announcements every 2-minutes for the non-binary winner to approach myself and Gordon to claim the prize.

Following the conclusion of the race, the world’s greatest raffle was held with t-shirts, pint glasses, running socks, fleece blankets, gift certificates, and more were lying in wait to be won back in Gutterson arena. We had received donations from Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s, Queen City Brewery, Mill River Brewing, Take Good Care Fitness, SkiRack, VT Juice Co., Sangha Studio, and Dunkin’ Donuts just to name a few. For the first time in the last four years of the
Turkey Trot, all of the raffle prizes, minus three tote bags, were taken, which I was quite happy
with after having to take 70% of it back to the storage unit post-race.

At the end of the event, when all of the participants had taken their leave in lieu of turkey dinners and family time, the monetary donations were counted up and the food was prepared to be shipped off to be weighed. With the careful eyes and mathematical prowess of Brad Sleeper and the use of a calculator, a total of $7,577 were raised between pre-registration and race-day registrants (which is a new PR for us over the last four years!) and 600lbs of food were obtained for Feeding Chittenden (100 pounds more than last year!). We hope that next year is equally as successful as this year however, having a mild, sunny day without the sleet, snow, and rain of last year’s race probably contributed to the improvements in numbers.

Until next year!

It was a perfect morning for a Ghostly Gallop! The course had been lovingly leaf blown, decorated and marked. The weather was a crisp 40 degrees at Arrowhead Golf Course yet the mood was warm and fun as the runners arrived. It hadn’t rained much the last few months until the week before the race, so the course proved to be in its usual slip and slide condition. The runners were up to the challenge.

After the race, we went up to the clubhouse where we enjoyed amazing cider donuts from Chapin’s Orchards and also that one of our volunteers, Lance, made along with some apple cider. We handed out the prizes as well as enjoyed a raffle in which EVERYONE was a winner!

Let’s congratulate Garrett Pit for an overall first place win as well as first place male and Meghan Owen’s for first place female. We all know where Scooby Doo was today. He was with his crew Mystery Inc. and everyone was there. They won the costume prize even if I didn’t see the Mystery Van. They said it was in the shop.

Thank you to all the amazing volunteers. Barry Gould – co director, leaf-blower extraordinaire and course set up. Mark Duchaine – Race Kit pickup help and course decorating. Peter Mitchell, Dan Blanchard, and Mike Bessette – Parking. Deb Fraser, Liz Von Nagy, Sarah Gould – Registration and Finish Line. Jimmy Tye, Jordan LaFond – timing start/Finish Line. Lance LaDue, Mike Flock, Heather Tye and Isaac Call – course monitors. Jess Marini, Heather Drake, Cris Cote and most everyone above – Clean up. Bradley Cech – Amazing Photograph! If I forgot anyone please excuse!

What a day! Thank you everyone!

Laura Gould
GMAA Ghostly Gallop Race Director

Full Results

September 20^th dawned clear and slightly chilly (mid-40’s) with spectacular views of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain.. Pre-registration signup was at an all-time high of 183 participants, with 159 runners finishing the race. The winning male was Nick Orlando from Burlington at 32:55; the winning female was Jennifer Markham of Underhill, 37:05 and 10^th overall finisher. Sophie Krumm of Cincinnati, OH won the non-binary division. Racers and volunteers were treated to Alex McHenry’s apple crisp & ice cream and fresh Vermont apple cider after the race.

The success of the Apple Harvest 10K was due to the team of experienced and hard-working volunteers: Steve Andrews and Gordon McFarland (who also won their age divisions in the race), GMAA Board members Nik Ponzio, Anthony Downs, Bradley Sleeper, Seth Kutikoff, and Jess Marini, veteran racers Harry Curth, Russ Cooke, and Ray Mainer, Howard Kalfus, Martha Keenan, Liz Buchanan, Carole Hakstian, Kristina Sweet, Rebekah Thomas, and photographer Lee Krohn.

Many thanks to our sponsors, Skirack and Untapped, as well as Shelburne Orchards, Running Saps Maple, Hannafords Supermarket, and Fiddlehead Brewing for their support of the Apple Harvest 10K. 

The course was nearly perfect for the early Saturday start except for the huge puddle covering the entire first bridge. Rumor spread quickly in the hour before the race and soon 97% of racers had heard of the “monster puddle”.  But with the quick thinking and speedy work of volunteers and one avalanche shovel the water was shoveled away.

This year it has rained every day in May, but that didn’t deter racers, spectators or volunteers. The rain let up just in time for the race start and held off. Temps were in the 40s at race time. There was a great turnout (considering the weather) with  96 pre registered runners, 23 no shows, 16 day of race registrations and 89 finishers.

Men’s winner Oliver Wood splashed to a time of 27:10.5, threepeate women’s winner Rachel Rudder splashed to a time of 30:57.7. The winners each received a SkiRack Gift Card and a fruit pie from Poorhouse Pies. 

Thanks to our amazing and loyal crew of volunteers for helping make race day run smoothly. Volunteers included:  Jen Adkisson, Andy and Levi Causey, Karen and Brian Clark, Chris Cote, Russ Cooke, Harry Curth, Nancy and Peter Davis, Sam Davis, Casey Gomo, Laura Gould, Martha Kennan, Seth Kutikoff, Tara Loyer (former race director), Alex McHenry, Peter Mitchell, Jen Porrier, Pat Spielman and Paul Wagner. 

Thanks to the Jericho Elementary School for providing a home base for the race. Palmer Lane Maple was a gracious neighbor in letting us take over their parking lot and the Town of Jericho for approving a take over of the road for the race start and finish line. The 9 AM race start woke up the neighborhood on Old Pump Road and kids peaked out their windows to watch the action. 

Our raffle prize sponsors included: Jericho Country Store, Jericho Ale and Bean- home of Lucy and Howe Brewing and Brew House Coffee, Birch Hill English Muffins, Palmer Lane Maple, 1st Republic Brewing, Sleepy Hollow Mtn Race and Untapped.

Cheers and we’ll see you next year!

Race Directors: Cari Causey and Liz Hollenbach 

The course was nearly perfect for the early Saturday start except for the huge puddle covering the entire first bridge. Rumor spread quickly in the hour before the race and soon 97% of racers had heard of the “monster puddle”.  But with the quick thinking and speedy work of volunteers and one avalanche shovel the water was shoveled away.

This year it has rained every day in May, but that didn’t deter racers, spectators or volunteers. The rain let up just in time for the race start and held off. Temps were in the 40s at race time. There was a great turnout (considering the weather) with  96 pre registered runners, 23 no shows, 16 day of race registrations and 89 finishers.

Men’s winner Oliver Wood splashed to a time of 27:10.5, threepeate women’s winner Rachel Rudder splashed to a time of 30:57.7. The winners each received a SkiRack Gift Card and a fruit pie from Poorhouse Pies. 

Thanks to our amazing and loyal crew of volunteers for helping make race day run smoothly. Volunteers included:  Jen Adkisson, Andy and Levi Causey, Karen and Brian Clark, Chris Cote, Russ Cooke, Harry Curth, Nancy and Peter Davis, Sam Davis, Casey Gomo, Laura Gould, Martha Kennan, Seth Kutikoff, Tara Loyer (former race director), Alex McHenry, Peter Mitchell, Jen Porrier, Pat Spielman and Paul Wagner. 

Thanks to the Jericho Elementary School for providing a home base for the race. Palmer Lane Maple was a gracious neighbor in letting us take over their parking lot and the Town of Jericho for approving a take over of the road for the race start and finish line. The 9 AM race start woke up the neighborhood on Old Pump Road and kids peaked out their windows to watch the action. 

Our raffle prize sponsors included: Jericho Country Store, Jericho Ale and Bean- home of Lucy and Howe Brewing and Brew House Coffee, Birch Hill English Muffins, Palmer Lane Maple, 1st Republic Brewing, Sleepy Hollow Mtn Race and Untapped.

Cheers and we’ll see you next year!

Race Directors: Cari Causey & Liz Hollenbach

Full Results

Race Photos