Cooper River Bridge Run 2012

Photo provided by Bill Thompson

Late Start, Big finish!

The 35th annual Bridge Run was the largest and the longest with a record of 36,652 runners and walkers and delayed by nearly an hour.









This race normally runs very smoothly, but for some reason this year it was riddled with one problem after another.  The race organizers have since sent out a letter of apology to all participants promising to take all necessary steps to help assure this will never happen again.  In the letter they pledged to do their very best to present the highest quality 10K race that Charleston area residents and visitors deserve and nothing less. Well, what can we say, we are planning to attend again next year!

Bridge Run Numbers:
6th Largest race in the U.S.
25 Number of wheelchair racers registered for the race
58 Minutes the race was delayed
$10,000 Prize money given to the winners in the elite divisions
43,636 People who registered for the Bridge Run
36,562 Runners and walkers who crossed the finish line
150 Buses used to transport people to the starting line

Let's get the negative out of the way first.  I'll keep it short because it was pretty painful.
1) Delayed start. Being crammed in the corral with so many people for so long-NOT FUN
2) There was no water left at any of the aide stations or the finish line for slower participants
3) The age group awards ceremony was canceled due to errors and confusions with the timing

OK, now for the positive!
1) Race organizers promise to fix the problems
2) The weather forecast called for rain and thunderstorms and turned out to be partly cloudy skies
3) The course is beautiful and scenic
4) The bridge and the views from the bridge are spectacular
5) Volunteers and spectators are the best
6) Getting to meet the overall female first place finisher Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, priceless!

Eve's race: After having to sit out two previous races due to my back injury, I decided to give this one a try. The physical therapy has been going well enough that I decided to take this race as a training run and just run the distance at a comfortable pace.  The plan on race day was, if I had any problems with my back, I would walk.  I am very pleased with my progress, and I was able to run the entire 6.2 miles without any problems and this is a clear indicator that I am on my way back to full health again! One advantage of running at an easier pace, I was able to do more site seeing!

Bart's race: Warm up thoroughly then stand in a cramped corral for an hour, not the ideal recipe for a good  race!  I consoled myself with the fact that all of us contending for age group wins were in the same boat, so it was a matter of accepting the situation and making the best of it.  Once off the line all of us were struggling to find the proper pace with cold legs, some were more successful than others.  It was interesting to observe many runners hitting a good strong pace and then suddenly almost stopping in their tracks between 1 and 2 miles.  The cold leg hammer-man hit them hard! I pushed through my personal misery and finally hit a 6:30 pace in the third mile and was able to carry that momentum to the finish.  I was very surprised that my time of 43:21 would be good enough for an AG win in this company, but it did. As stated earlier, we were all the same boat, some just leaked slower than others.

After the race, we were so hungry, we decided to split a hot dog  (we haven't eaten a hot dog in at least 14 years).  Well, we knew none of our family members would believe us, so we were trying to take a picture of ourselves while eating the hot dog, and along came this nice runner who said, "I'll be happy to take your picture".  After she snapped our picture, I asked her how her run went, and with the biggest smile, she said, "I won!" thus we had the pleasure of meeting Janet Cherobon-Bawcom!!!

Corral at the start line. Notice the time on the clock is 8 am. We should be ready to go, but the elite runners did not start until 8:58

Runners making their way to their starting corral. Photo provided by Bill Thompson

Approaching the Arthur Ravenel Jr Bridge. 2 miles long, 200 feet high and 4% slope

Middle of the bridge.  OK, this picture was from last years run courtesy of my brother Bill because my pictures this year are blurry!

Post race festivities

Little did we know at the time the first place overall female winner was taking our picture eating our first hot dog in at least 14 years

Bart and Janet Cherobon-Bawcom

Eve and Janet Cherobon-Bawcom