 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Run for the Diamonds" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Berwick Run for The Diamonds is a nine-milefoot race starting and ending on Market Street in downtownBerwick, Pennsylvania.[1] It has been held every year onThanksgiving Day 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 ofSummerhill. 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 toWorld War I in 1918 and 1919, but despiteWorld War II & theCOVID-19 pandemic, the race went on.
The race was called the "Berwick Marathon" until the 1970s and 1980s. But since the race is too short to qualify as amarathon, 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 of43:21 was set in 1980 byPete Pfitzinger.
The race starts on Market Street in Berwick and goes north along that street for about a mile before turning onto Summerhill Road, which becomes Foundryville Road as it goes through the municipality ofFoundryville. After passing through Foundryville around mile 2, it goes up a very long and steep hill known as "The Hill". After cresting the hill around mile 3.5, it heads mostly downhill to the halfway point where it turns onto Kachinka Hollow Road and continues descending to Martzville Road at mile 7. The course follows Martzville Road back to Market Street, and then after a mile on Market Street. However, from 1946 to 1954, the race finished atCrispin Field in Berwick.[1]
41°03′40″N76°14′20″W / 41.06103°N 76.23893°W /41.06103; -76.23893