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The Cooper River Bridge Run (Mt Pleasant And Charleston, SC)

35th Annual Cooper River Bridge Run

(where you’ll spend much of your time on Highway 17, crossing the bridge that connects Mt Pleasant and Charleston, South Carolina)

(43,000 regular priced entries have been sold for the 2012 event!)

Here’s a bit about the history of this run from Wikipedia:

“In the mid-1970s, Medical University of South Carolina employee Dr. Marcus Newberry had visited his Ohio hometown and noticed Bonne Bell had built a running track around their offices to encourage employees’ physical fitness. Dr. Newberry wanted a way to encourage fitness in the Charleston Metropolitan region, and believed the best way was to feature an event running through the bridges crossing the Cooper River. The event organisers featured officials from the Charleston Running Club, The Citadel, the Medical University of South Carolina and the College of Charleston. 

South Carolina state senator Dewey Wise introduced legislation to permit the event to be held over the reversible on the three-lane Silas Pearman Bridge.

On April 2, 1978, the initial race began from Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant to the White Point Gardens in Charleston’s Battery region. Police shortened the initial event to 9,850 meters after the gun had sounded to start the initial Bridge Run. Officials expected 500 runners for the event (with 340 pre-registered), but on race day an additional 600 to 700 runners registered. 766 runners finished. Many dropped out of the race and some were hospitalized for effects from the heat, as there were  water stops on the course. In the tradition of historic Charleston’s Civil War and Revolutionary War heritage, a cannon is fired to start the event. The first Kenyan runners to participate were a pair of Baptist College teammates in 1978. Runners from that country have dominated the run since 1993.”

2011 Cooper River Bridge Run