The Commodore Hull 5K Road Race - A Valley Thanksgiving Tradition
Have you ever wondered about the story behind the Valley’s beloved Thanksgiving tradition - the Commodore Hull 5K? From its local roots to its community impact, read about how this annual race brings Derby and Shelton together every year.
DERBY-SHELTON
11/25/20256 min read
Thanksgiving morning in the Valley has a very specific soundtrack.
Before the ovens are preheating and the high school football games kick off, you can already hear it: race volunteers shouting greetings down Canal Street, the low murmur of 1,000 runners shuffling into place, the national anthem echoing off the brick, and that first sharp crack of the starting gun bouncing across the Housatonic.
For a lot of local families, it isn’t Thanksgiving until they’ve crossed the Commodore Hull 5K finish line.
A race that started as a “what if…”
The Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 5K was born in 2002, when a small group of Derby and Shelton residents decided they wanted something more than just turkey and TV to mark the holiday.
They had three big goals:
Honor Commodore Isaac Hull, the Valley-born naval hero who commanded the USS Constitution in the War of 1812
Shine a light on the changes happening in the downtowns of Shelton and Derby after years of disinvestment and fire damage
Create a family-friendly tradition rooted right here, not in a big city somewhere else
Glenn Gaetano, a Derby High football alum, Navy veteran, lifelong runner, and very vocal Valley booster, was one of the main sparks behind the idea. After coming back home, he looked at the revitalizing riverfront and thought, essentially, “We should be doing something with this.”
He didn’t do it alone. An early committee of neighbors and friends mapped the course, wrangled volunteers, and persuaded sponsors to take a chance on a brand-new Thanksgiving morning race. Greco & Haines signed on in that very first year and has stayed with the event ever since.
Just over 300 people showed up to run that first year. By Valley standards, it was a risk. By the time the finish line clock shut off, it was clear they had hit something bigger than a one-off fundraiser.
A course that tells a story
The Commodore Hull 5K might be only 3.1 miles, but it covers a lot of ground, literally and historically.
The race begins along Canal Street and the Shelton Riverwalk, with the Housatonic on one side and the old factory buildings on the other.
Runners pass under the Route 8 bridge, swing up past the war monuments, and head to Howe Avenue before turning onto the Commodore Isaac Hull Memorial Bridge.
Right in the middle of that bridge, ladder trucks raise a giant American flag to mark the exact line between Shelton and Derby and the spirit of the whole event.
On the Derby side, the route climbs Elizabeth Street, passes Derby Green, continues toward the library, then turns around and retraces its steps back to Shelton.
It’s not just “flat and fast” or “hilly and tough”, it’s a guided tour of how these two downtowns have changed. In the 1970s, fire and arson left Shelton’s riverfront gutted. Today, as Gaetano likes to point out, it’s a place where people come for concerts, farmers markets, and early-morning 5Ks.
Photo is of the midpoint during the 2016 race.
From 300 runners to a sell-out tradition
If you tried to sign up at the last minute these days, you’ve probably learned the hard way: this race fills fast.
In 2002, about 300 people finished the inaugural run.
Within a few years, organizers had to cap registration at 750 to keep things safe and enjoyable on the narrow streets and bridge.
Even with that cap, the race has been selling out well before race day for years.
Under the Boys & Girls Club’s leadership, Thanksgiving morning now regularly draws close to 1,000 runners and walkers, plus just as many family members cheering on the sidelines.
And it’s not just hardcore runners at the front of the pack. One of the race’s signatures from early on has been making room for everyone: discounted entries for grammar and high school students, free registration for runners 70 and older, and a start line where you’ll see kids in turkey hats, college athletes home on break, and grandparents who remember when the Riverwalk was still a dream.
There’s also the good-natured chaos of families who’ve been doing this for so long that their kids literally grew up on the course, pushed in jogging strollers at first, then shuffling along in tiny race shirts, and eventually outrunning their parents.
For a lot of Valley kids, getting up early to run Commodore Hull is just “what we do” on Thanksgiving.
The “Crew,” the Club, and the kids
For the first 15 years, a small volunteer group calling themselves "The Crew" quietly shouldered most of the work: mapping the course, wrangling permits, calling sponsors, packing those famously over-stuffed goodie bags, and standing out in every kind of November weather you can imagine.
They always insisted the race was about community first, fundraising second…but the fundraising turned out to be pretty impressive anyway. By 2016, the event had generated roughly $175,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley, with more added every year since.
In 2017, the Crew officially passed the baton to the Club, which had already been the race beneficiary and was more than ready to take over race management. The Boys & Girls Club now runs Commodore Hull as one of its flagship fundraisers, with proceeds supporting after-school programs, summer camps, and leadership opportunities for Valley youth.
So when you’re grinding up Elizabeth Street or cruising back along the Riverwalk, you’re not just earning your pie — you’re helping keep lights on and doors open for local kids all year long.
The Crew: Tom Wilson, Glenn and Vera Gaetano, Pam Petro, Diane and Nick Serdenitsky and Markanthony Izzo. Missing from the picture are Crew members Jack Walsh, John Saccu and Carl Sylvester. They are all natives of Derby and Shelton whose community spirit has carried over to the race.
Faces at the starting line
Another long-running tradition: the honorary starter.
Over the years, community leaders, coaches, and local legends have taken that job, from championship coach Joe Benanto, to longtime civic volunteers like Carl Sylvester, to mayors and business leaders who’ve thrown their support behind the race.
It’s never really just about who fires the gun, though. Stand at the line for a few years in a row and you start to see the real “honorary starters”: the same families posing for photos in their race shirts; the volunteers handing out safety pins and coffee; the folks who’ve moved away but still come back, because this is what home feels like.
That’s the quiet power of the event. It gives people an excuse to come back together, even if it’s only for an hour before everyone scatters to football games, grandparents’ houses, and crowded dining rooms.
More than miles
On paper, Commodore Hull is a 5K that starts at 8:00 a.m., crosses a bridge twice, and gets you back in time for the football game.
In practice, it’s turned into:
A live snapshot of two downtowns that refused to stay written off
A fundraiser that has quietly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into youth programs
A standing date where three, sometimes four generations share the same finish line
A celebration of a local hero whose name most of us first heard in a Valley classroom
As the race moves deeper into its third decade, the logistics will keep evolving - online registration, tech shirts, live-streamed footage from the pace car, drones on the course, and whatever else the next race committee dreams up.
But underneath the timing chips and T-shirts, the heart of Commodore Hull hasn’t changed much since 2002:
✔️ Get up early.
✔️ Come down to the river.
✔️ Run (or walk) your miles with your neighbors.
✔️ Wave at the flag in the middle of the Housatonic.
✔️ Go home knowing you did something good for Valley kids before the first slice of pumpkin pie.
Photos are from the 2016 race.
If you’ve got your own Commodore Hull story, like the year you PR’d in the snow, the time you pushed a stroller the whole way, the family member who insists on wearing that one ancient race shirt, that’s part of the history now, and we want to hear them! Send your story to the editor at Kayleigh@cmmct.com.
Those are the stories that keep this Valley tradition alive, one Thanksgiving morning at a time.
For information on the Commodore Hull 5K, including how to register, sponsor, volunteer, or participate, visit the Boys & Girls Club of Lower Naugatuck Valley's website:
https://bgc-lnv.org/events/commodore-hull-5k/
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