Olympic bronze medalist runs in Berbee Derby

FITCHBURG, Wis. (WMTV) - Olympic marathon bronze medalist and Wisconsin native Molly Seidel was among the Berbee Derby 5k and 10k runners in Thursday morning in Fitchburg.

Not only did she run the 10k, but Seidel wore a turkey costume while doing it, despite a small tail malfunction.

Seidel is from Nashotah, not too far from the Madison-Fitchburg area, and she did run the derby five years ago when she was in college.

Seidel described what brought her back to the event.

“After a year like this, where there so many cool things that happened, it gives me a chance to come home and appreciate it and take a step back and say ‘wow, this is really cool,’” Seidel said. “And I think a lot of people in Wisconsin are really excited about it, and share a lot of pride in it, so it’s exciting to share a lot of that with people here.”

Seidel won the bronze medal in Tokyo, which was her third overall marathon race. The 27-year-old is the first American female marathon runner to place for a medal since 2004.

This was the 18th year of the Berbee Derby. The run raises money for the Technology Education Foundation. The non profit organization supports schools and other non profits, with the goal of helping close the educational gap in underserved communities.

More than 5,400 runners ran in the derby this year. The event organizers added a kids run in 2021.

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