BREWER – Before area runners stuff themselves with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and other Thanksgiving goodies, they’ll head to Brewer High School for the BHS sophomore class’s 24th annual 5-kilometer Turkey Trot.

Many of the area’s top road racers are expected to compete, such as Judson Cake of Bar Harbor, winner of three of the last four races.

“We had a good field last year,” race director Dave Jeffrey said. “They ran very, very fast times. I think that he [Cake] ran the fifth fastest time ever. Those are some smoking times.”

Defending women’s champion Cassie Hintz of Old Town is also planning to return.

The race, the finale of the Trade Winds Market Place Sub 5 race series, starts at 1 p.m. Sunday just up Parkway South from Brewer High. A 1-mile fun run starts at 12:30.

The course looks easy and fast to the naked eye, but there are two hills on the course – a small climb just shy of the mile mark going out and a fairly steep climb with about 800 meters to go.

“Coming back over that bridge, that can hurt,” said Bar Harbor native and Maine star road runner Evan Graves, referring to the I-395 overpass that runners cross roughly 500 yards from the finish line.

Other than that, the out-and-back course, which stays on Parkway South through the whole race, is very fast and flat.

“You really gotta be careful how you approach that first mile,” said Jeffrey, who is also the BHS sophomore class advisor. “Certainly, many years the race has come down to the last half-mile.”

Jeffrey credited his sophomore class for the tireless job it has done to prepare for the race.

“It’s a great group of kids. They work extremely hard,” he said. “They’ve put together what will be an enjoyable day for everyone who comes and runs.”

Jeffrey said that another team award has been added, the Family Team award.

“We already have 15 families signed up as family teams,” he said. “That competition is gonna be interesting.”

Normally the top three runners on each winning team get a turkey, but the family team award has a twist.

“We’ll give the family team winner a full Thanksgiving dinner, with one turkey,” Jeffrey said.

The family team must comprise three relatives, at least one of them being female.

“The whole point of this race is a family affair,” he said. “Thanksgiving Day is family time. It only took me 24 years to figure it out.”

And you never know who you may run into at the Turkey Trot.

“That’s just what the race is, seeing people once a year you haven’t seen,” Jeffrey said. “You see a lot of that happening at the Turkey Trot.”

One of the race’s popular features is the prize drawing in the BHS gym after the race. Prizes awarded in the past have been tickets to UMaine sporting events and gift certificates to area businesses and restaurants.

But one prize all runners have their eyes on is a turkey – not the kind you roast in the oven on Thanksgiving Day, but a turkey stuffed with possibly more than $500.

“That’s always a fun thing, always an early Christmas present for someone,” Jeffrey said.

Preregistration Sunday is 11 a.m. at the Brewer High cafeteria. Jeffrey said, “Probably 230-240 have preregistered.”

Fees are $12 for the 5K and $6 for the fun run, which is run on a fast out-and-back course on Dirigo Drive.