A Bridge? Too Far!!

Every year around the beginning of April, the Bridge Run takes place in Charleston - a 10K run or walk that, for the first time this year, took place on the (still shiny) new Ravenel bridge spanning the Cooper River on the North-eastern side of the peninsula - and is the 29th run in total. I have to admit that, way back in January, i had planned to do the run myself and had been training accordingly - but then work got crazy around the middle of February and screwed up my training schedule so much that i decided it best not to do it this year. However, as i am planning on being around Charleston for a couple more years yet, i am definitely going to enter it at some point. No, honestly i am. Anyway, this year, there were a record 45,497 entrants, of which 33,742 crossed the finish line in downtown Charleston - bear in mind, though, that these may not all have been runners - with a separate lane allocated for those choosing to walk the 10K course instead.

The first bridge run way back in 1978 was not nearly so grand - with a total of about 1000 runners registering and 766 crossing the line. The idea of a race across the Cooper River Bridge first originated with Dr. Marcus Newberry of MUSC who wanted to get the Charleston Community involved in running and fitness and thought a run across the bridge would do it. Together with Terry Hamlin, then President of the Charleston Running Club, they set up a committee to work out the details and thus the Cooper River Bridge Run was born. From 1,000 to 45,000 - from little acorns... With this in mind, some respect should be given to a co-worker of mine - Tom Mullen - who ran the course in just under 45 minutes and was placed 750th (or therabouts) in the men's rankings. Pretty good going, in my book.