ROANOKE, Va. – Thousands of runners filled the streets of Downtown Roanoke Thursday for the annual Drumstick Dash.
The Thanksgiving Day event benefits the Roanoke Rescue Mission.
“It’s just for a great cause, the rescue mission does a great job year-round and for us to run for like half an hour once a year for them I think is just great,” said Josh Wilkinson, a participant in this year’s run.
This year, the race raised around $300,000.
That money helps provide over 200,000 meals a year to people in need.
For those running the race, the three miles is anything but easy.
“I was hurting I’ll tell you that,” said Jonah Harding, a runner in the race. “About mile two, two and a half, it hit me.”
It was no time before racers started to cross the finish line.
One group of runners said the first hill of the race set the tone for the rest.
“The steepest one was right at the start. So normally it was better, but it was also kind of like...You got it out of the way, but it made you tired so,” said Lila and Jonah Harding.
Another group said though they normally work out, this run was no joke.
“It was fun, it was a challenge,” Anthony Morris said.
“I haven’t run this much in a while, but it was nice to be back out there just running,” Justin Goolcharan said.
Everyone said they are happy they came out.
“Very happy, 21 [minutes] so I can’t complain,” Goolcharan said.