THE FEASTER FAMILY
By the time the back of the pack leaves the starting line in Andover’s Feaster Five — New England’s largest Thanksgiving road race — those who were at the front when the air horn sounded will be well on their way to the 5K’s finish line.
No matter — the Feaster is about the entire field of 7,000 striders as the race reaches a milestone in 2022, its 35th birthday.
While its participants have included celebrities, Matt Damon among them, and distance-running royalty, including Joan Benoit Samuelson and Lynn Jennings, its representative runners are everyday Als and Annies, folks who like to run and be among their running kin.
“Mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather, the cat, and dog,” said the race’s director, Dave McGillivray.
The Feaster is about family, fun and fitness, apple pie and high-fives. About tradition on the day of the year with the most road races in America.
Here are memories from runners and those who make the race happen.
The inaugural Feaster was in 1988, drawing a modest field of 300 to 400.
The second year, a nor’easter threatened the race.
Bill Mooney, of Salem, New Hampshire, now 84, remembers his wife telling him he was crazy to go to the race, as surely it would be canceled.
“It wasn’t, and a lot of others showed up, as well,” says Mooney, who had ice caked on his eyebrows and mustache by race’s end.
Jacqui Kennedy, of Hampton, New Hampshire, a former youth minister at St. Augustine School, Andover, has been running the Feaster with two teacher friends from the school for the past 10-plus years — Megan Campbell and Norma Defusco-King.
The Feaster Five continues to be their “must-do” year after year after year.
“After all, it’s in Andover, where our friendship took root, and it’s also Norma’s and my hometown,” Kennedy said. “No matter the conditions — snowy, balmy, rainy, bitter cold or just plain ideal — the Feaster Five is our favorite ‘run with friends’ road race each and every year.”
Glen Johnson, of North Andover, has cherished memories from his 30 years of Feaster Fives, including meeting “Boston Billy” of Boston Marathon fame, having won four of them.
“Once, nearing the homestretch along High Street, I found myself next to Bill Rodgers,” Johnson said. “I talked to ‘Boston Billy’ the rest of the way in about what it was like to run Boston, what it was like to turn down Boylston Street as a hometown hero and his overall racing career. Where else can you say you had a running experience like that?”
Rodgers is the grand marshal of this year’s race.
Emily Goldsmith, of Keene, New Hampshire, who has run 30 Feasters, keeps the family spirit alive at the 5K.
“In 2007, my sister, Janice Goldstein, and I lost our mother, Miriam Stone, a few days before Thanksgiving,” Goldsmith said. “Our entire Feaster Five family competed wearing a new headband — ‘Mimi’s Team’ — and a new tradition was born. It has been, and will always be, a way to keep her spirit with us.”
Ian O’Connor, of Stoneham and formerly of Andover, and his wife, Leigh Ann, will introduce a new family member to the Feaster tradition in 2022.
Every year, the couple meet a group of runners at the house of O’Connor’s grandparents, on Homestead Circle, to pile into a carpool to head over to the starting line.
“We’re extra excited for FF2022, as we’ll introduce our baby boy, Carter, who was born on Sept. 3, to the tradition,” O’Connor said.
Bill Hames, of Salem, New Hampshire, has run every Feaster Five.
“I love the cool autumn weather; most have been pleasant,” he said. “I enjoy the fun atmosphere for family and friends. It is a celebration of tradition, community and gratitude on Thanksgiving for all to enjoy.”
The race has become a force of nature, race emcee and organizer Tom Licciardello said.
“We have faced everything you can imagine, and some that you can’t — this race will go on,” he said. “We could decide not to have it, and a thousand people would show up on Thanksgiving morning anyway.”
As the race rocketed in popularity, finding a retailer with 5,000, 6,000, 7,000 or more pies for sale on Thanksgiving morning became an organizer’s dilemma.
“Table Talk came to the rescue and has been our ‘go-to’ pie for many years,” Licciardello said.
Bundled Bellesini Academy students at their High Street water station will be cheering the throngs of Feaster Five runners and extending water cups.
The Feaster lives on, a Thanksgiving tradition made for families and memories, and all its runners from first to last.