The Drumstick Dash runs on Thanksgiving morning in Roanoke, so the crowd skews toward families who made it a holiday tradition rather than a race-only crowd. The entry fees go directly toward the Rescue Mission of Roanoke's meal services for people in need, which gives the morning a purpose that most road races do not carry.
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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: Ben Reynolds (15:45) · Joseph Darwin (15:54) · Charlie Smoak (16:01)
The Rescue Mission of Roanoke Drumstick Dash has been held every year since at least 2014. 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 25, 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 32:57, and the last recorded finisher came in around 1:40:38, so there is a long tail of runners behind the middle of the pack. Most fields are far slower than people expect.
With 2,739 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 15:45 while the median finisher took 32:57. That spread points to a broad, mostly recreational field rather than a race dominated by club runners.
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