Pequot Runners Club Turkey Trot T-shirt featuring history headlines goes viral on TikTok

This year, the Running Thru History Together slogan has stirred the pot with the chosen headlines that were put on the T-shirt given to all the participants.

News 12 Staff

Dec 1, 2022, 10:41 PM

Updated 672 days ago

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A family fun tradition has gone viral. The Pequot Runners Club has put on the annual Turkey Trot in Southport for the last 45 years. This year, the Running Thru History Together slogan has stirred the pot with the chosen headlines that were put on the T-shirt given to all the participants.
"It's just so wild and it at every point you don't know what's going to come next. It's a very chaotic and unhinged mix of events," said Colleen Granberg.
This year, the T-shirts from the Turkey Trot were more memorable than the Thanksgiving meal.
Granberg took to TikTok to explain.
"The deaths of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein both get shoutouts on this T-shirt," said Granberg on TikTok.
The shirt includes headlines like The Cosby Show Debuts and The Unabomber Arrested.
"This is by far the worst one: Rodney King Beaten. Just like that on a T-shirt. I don't think that's OK. Who did you run this by? I don't think you can put that on a T-shirt," said Granberg on TikTok.
The shirt sets to lay out historic moments over the last 45 years. Granberg says thousands of people in her comments are asking to buy the shirt.
"They set out to make a normal Turkey Trot T-shirt and that is not what they did, they accidentally made an iconic, I think, town treasure," she said.
The Pequot Runners Club has organized the event since 1978. Tom Hardinge is the treasurer and says the shirt was made by a local artist in Westport.
"The theme is sort of running through history, and then I looked at the fine print and said, 'You know, I wouldn't have chosen those,'" said Hardinge.
He says this year's design has been a learning experience.
"It's been offensive to some people, and I understand that, and I apologize for that," said Hardinge.
The Runners Club has raised $1 million for local charities throughout the decades. Hardinge says the event is always a positive light in the community.
The club says they are going to use better judgment next year when it comes to the shirt design.