Run For The Diamonds
Thu, Nov 22
|South Market Street
The Streets Are Lined With Spectators For Hours Awaiting The Starters Gun To See Runners From Around The World Compete and Tackle This 9 Mile Course,
Time & Location
Nov 22, 2018, 10:30 AM – 2:30 PM
South Market Street, S Market St, Berwick, PA 18603, USA
About the event
One of the oldest and fan friendly events in the USA, spectators gather and line the streets as the runners race by, huge crowd support at this event, please join us.
Berwick Run for The Diamonds is a nine-mile foot race starting and ending on Market Street in downtown Berwick, Pennsylvania.[1] It has been held every year on Thanksgiving 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 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 called the "Berwick Marathon" until the 1970s and 1980s. 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 of 43:21 was set in 1980 by Pete Pfitzinger.