Brückeläufe Half Marathon - Details

43 days!!!!  Yes, only 43 days until the Brückeläufe Half Marathon.  I'll be there and will be doing a detailed race review after the race as well.  Come join me for this inaugural race!  Here's the details on the race at this time:

Date:  Saturday, October 6, 2012; 8am

Race:  Brückeläufe Half Marathon

Location:  Frankenmuth, Michigan

Distances:  13.1 miles or 5k

Course:  USATF certified(why I don't have the map just yet)

Cost:  $45 before 9/15($50 before 10/4 or $60 race day) for the half; $25 before 9/15($30 before 10/4 or $35 race day)for the 5k

Packet Pickup:  Race day at Heritage Park near the start.

Includes:  T-shirt, Finisher medal(half only), finish line food, certified course, a great time in Frankenmuth!

This race is put on by the people that put on the Volksläufe and Winterläufe each year also in Frankenmuth.  Probably the most exciting thing about this race is the course.  You will run over 11 bridges for 13.1 miles!  While the course route is not published yet, I have talked to the race director and the net elevation is 0.6.  What does this mean - it's flat overall!!!  As for the bridges, here is some information on the three most well known bridges:

The Zehnder's Holz Brücke(Wooden Bridge) - Built in 1979 but made to look much older; 239 foot span; two years to build!  The trusses and floor joists were made from 100,000 board feet of Douglas Fir.  The flooring is 15,960 board feet of 4 inch planks. 20,000 board feet of Douglas First make up the rafters and the roof is shingled with cedar.  An additional 4,340 board feet of pine was required for the bridge side
boards.  Wow!!!!(Source)

I took this one personally - Zehnder's Wooden Bridge

The Gugel Bridge - Metal bridge built in 1904 and re-built in 2004(you will feel the history when crossing this one); 205 foot span.  Having both an approach pony truss span and a main through truss span, the Beyer Road Bridge is very special, and is the only truss remaining in Michigan with such a combination of spans. Both spans of the Beyer Road Bridge are pin connected Pratt trusses. V-lacing is present on the vertical members of both spans. In addition, the through span has v-lacing on the sway bracing and under the top chord.  A portion of the top chord on one side of the pony span was cut out during restoration, since it was bent, and replaced with a new section of steel.(Source)  Very cool!  I can't wait to run over this!

Source The Gugel Bridge

The Black Bridge - Built in 1907; 151 foot span.  This bridge is one of two historic metal truss bridges restored in and near Frankenmuth mainly through the efforts of William "Tiny" Zehnder Jr., who was also credited with turning Frankenmuth into the unique German-themed town that it is today, and one of Michigan's top tourist destinations. Mr. Zehnder also had a love for historic bridges, and his efforts also turned the Frankenmuth area into one of the most successful historic bridge stories in Michigan as well.(source)

Source The Black Bridge

I'm also told the views are spectacular for some of the other bridges as well but the above three are the most well known that runners will cross.

Not up for the half marathon; how about run the 5k.? Or maybe you run the half and your family members run the 5k?  Either way, it should be a fun time had by all.  Come make it a weekend and do a racecation - a race vacation!

For those of you that think they can qualify for age group awards, I'm told there will be extra special awards for this as well and will be ones that you will want to get your hands on.  They are also working on T-shirt designs as well and if I receive them, I'll share that with you in another post.

In the meantime, get to their website and register now!  Plus, if you want to keep up to date, join their Facebook page as well.  I hope to see you there running it with me.  It's sure to be a unique experience which is very hard to do today so I commend the organizers for coming up with this idea.

Have a great day and....Keep Running!!!!