GALLERY: Hundreds of runners brave frigid temps to enjoy Gobbler Hobbler 10K, Mashed Potato Mile in Oswego

Cold temperatures, damp ground and a moment of snow greeted runners in the Oswegoland Park District’s annual Gobbler Hobbler 10K and Mashed Potato Mile events Sunday morning, Nov. 14, as they set off from Fox Chase Elementary School in Oswego.

About 400 runners signed up in advance to run the 10K course that extended through Boulder Hill and downtown Oswego, while about 500 more runners signed up for the Mashed Potato Mile. The course for that run extended around the grounds of the school off Fox Chase Drive North on the village’s west side.

Following the event, many runners made their way into the Fox Chase cafeteria to pick-up some hot and fresh pancakes to take home.

Official results showed that Oswego resident Colin Mickow, 31, was the first to finish the 10K, with a time of 31:33, while Warrenville resident Atticus Cunningham, 14, came in first in the mile with a time of 5:33.

The park district moved the starting point for this year’s race back to Fox Chase after using the Civic Center on Ashlawn Avenue as the starting point last year.

“The Civic Center was just kind of a one-time deal just because that’s our facility and we just wanted to make sure that we had control there,” Park District Recreation Supervisor Zack Donati said, citing the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

For this year’s event, Donati noted the park district again implemented best practices to help assure a safe event.

“It’s been nice over the last few years to reinvent some of the things that we do,” Donati said.

The Gobbler Hobbler is one of the park district’s longest continuing annual events with the first run dating back to at least the early 1980s.

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Runners in the Gobbler Hobbler 10K and Mashed Potato Mile could stay warm and pose with an inflatable turkey before setting off on their races Nov. 14 in the Fox Chase subdivision. (Shea Lazansky)