Berwick Run for The Diamonds is a nine-mile race starting and ending on Market Street in downtown Berwick, Pennsylvania. [1] It is held every year on Thanksgiving Day and has been since 1908.[2]
The first race had only 13 participants. The course has remained essentially unchanged since 1908, running up a very challenging hill and through the countryside of Summerhill. No women competed officially until 1972 when two women ran. The one hundredth running of the annual event was held in 2009. It was canceled twice due to World War I in 1918 and 1919.
The race was for years called the "Berwick Marathon". But since the race is too short to qualify as a marathon, and winners receive diamonds as part of their prize, the name was changed to "Run for the Diamonds".
The number of participants has grown dramatically, from about 100 runners in 1973 to 1,985 runners in 2009. The course record is 43:21 set in 1980 by Pete Pfitzinger.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||