The Thanksgiving Wattle runs in Grove City and draws whole families, with a children's run and a short sprint alongside the main walk/run. Music plays on the course and at the finish, and there is pumpkin pie waiting when you cross the line.
The organizers note there are no water stations on the course, so plan accordingly. Pets are not permitted at the event, though trained support dogs can be arranged in advance by reaching out directly to the race team.
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Going by the 2025 results, this is a big field, and the spread of finish times is wide, so this is a mostly recreational race rather than one for club runners.
Top 3: Andrew Giljahn (16:31) · Travis Glendenning (16:50) · Nolan Bryant (16:57)
The 2026 Thanksgiving Wattle has been held every year since at least 2015. That is as far back as RunSignup's records for this race go, so it may well be older.
Enter a finish time to see where it lands against the most recent 5K results.
How we calculate these stats: RunSesh calculates these figures from the most recent published results of past editions, sourced from RunSignup. We show aggregates only: field size, winning and median times, and the cutoff. We never publish individual finisher tables. Last updated Oct 18, 2026.
Set a goal and get a pace band: every mile split on a card sized for your phone lock screen, so race morning needs no math.
Not sure what to aim for? The 5K pace chart lists the pace for every finish time.
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Almost certainly not. Half the 5K field finished slower than 40:18, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:10:57, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
With 1,548 finishers there are runners at every pace, so you are never out on your own. There is no qualifying time, and the finish-time spread above shows how varied the field really is. If it is your first 5K, that spread matters more than the winner's time.
The 5K winner ran 16:31 while the median finisher took 40:18. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
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