The 5K course will start and end at the same place that the half marathon does. Both races start in front of the Topky Library and head West on Walnut Blvd. At approximately 1/2 mile the half marathon runners will turn left on Union followed by a left on West 7th St.
The 5K runners will continue on Walnut crossing Lake Road to Norwood Avenue to a turn around at the 1000 block. They will continue back across Lake Road to Walnut then turn right on Walnut followed by a left on 7th. Click on the map below to view the full 5K course.
All – welcome to race week! You’ve trained, you’re watching the weather closely, drooling over the AWESOME finisher’s medal and shirts, we’re with you! We’re excited! So it’s time to start parsing out some important information. Keep an eye on Facebook and the web site for information this week. Feel free to drop us a note at ashtabuladistancerunners@gmail.com if you are not sure about something.
First: PACKET PICK UP!
Packet pick up for anyone registered online before Friday morning will be at Wychock Physical Therapy in Ashtabula, Ohio, from 5pm until 8pm Friday, October 24!! If you do not get your packet that evening, no worries, you can claim it at registration the morning of the race. Registration opens at Walnut Beach at 7am.
If you are volunteering for race day, please come or send a representative to the volunteer meeting, Wednesday October 22, at 7:15 p.m. also at Wychock Physical Therapy.
Third: COURSE AID STATIONS
There will be two stations on the course that will have more than water. One will be at 46th and Main Street and will have HEED sports drink.
The other will be at the turnaround after the covered bridge and that one will have Hammer Gel – Montana Huckleberry.
There will be approximately 5 water stations along the course.
This medal was designed for us by an Ashtabula High School, 1996, graduate – full disclosure – he’s my brother. Thanks to Nick Puzo for the art and we hope you all enjoy the finished product.
This medal will be 3 inches in size and come with a custom neck ribbon displaying the race name and year. The medal base is silver with an antique finish and you can see the color portions below in the art proof! Don’t miss out on some great race bling! Register today!
Keep your ears open Monday between 8 and 9 a.m. on 97.1 FM and Cougar 93.7. We’ll be talking up the Bridge 2 Bridge Half Marathon with Jeremy James. Don’t forget, Monday is the last chance to get early bird pricing on the race!
After several discussions and multiple trial runs, the ADR board has finalized the course for the 2014 Bridge to Bridge Half Marathon. Previously the race was an 11 miler that started at the Lift Bridge in Historic Ashtabula Harbor, traveled south to the Smolen Coverage Bridge then returned to the starting point.
This year the race has expanded to a half marathon. It will still turn around at the Smolen Coverd Bridge and finish at the Lift Bridge, however the race will start in front of the Harbor Topky Library, travel westbound on Walnut Blvd, turn south on to Union Avenue, left (east) on West 7th, left on Thayer Avenue, right onto West 5th, cross Lake Avenue to Bridge Street where it will cross the Lift Bridge and follow the previous year(s) route.
Ample parking will be available at Walnut Beach located below the library.
ADR Orange shirt pride! Come hang out with these (and other) awesome, dedicated and supportive runners on Saturday!
Don’t forget about the Ashtabula Distance Runner’s club member picnic THIS WEEKEND (June 7) at Lakeshore Park in Ashtabula. It will be at 3 pm in the pavilion near the concession stand. This is a potluck event so bring your favorite food or snack to share. Drinks will be provided.
Please fill out the RSVP form below if you are coming or thinking of joining us. If you are not an ADR member, Saturday would be a great time to join up! We’ll have membership forms on hand. If there is enough interest we will also have a group run.
We want to know what kind of nifty ADR gear you would like with your ADR membership each year. We hope to offer a rotation of cool stuff featuring the ADR logo.
Please participate in our survey below (even if you are just thinking of becoming a member and have not yet done so, we want your opinion!)
The ADR club is currently trying to determine the best and most appropriate way to incorporate Age Grading into our race results. But many runners raise the question; What is Age Grading?
Age grading is a method used to adjust an athlete’s performance based on age and gender. This allows for a direct comparison between performances at different ages or between genders. Age Grading Tables were originally developed by the World Association of Veteran Athletes, which is the world governing body for track and field, long distance running and race walking for veteran athletes.
The tables were first published in 1989 and they work by recording the world record performance for each age at each distance, for men and women. An individual’s age-graded “score” for a race is represented as a percentage of the World Record for that age and gender at that distance.
The performance levels are:
100% = World – Record Level over
90% = World Class over
80% = National Class over
70% = Regional Class over
60% = Local Class
As an example, the world record for a 53 year old woman running a 10k is 35:01 (wow is that fast). So if a 53 year old woman finishes a 10km in 45:18, she has an age-graded performance of 77.3% (which is 35:01 divided by 45:18).
The wide availability of age-grading tables has allowed older runners to compete on even terms with younger generations. In many running clubs today, the age-graded champion earns as much, if not more, recognition as the outright (non-age adjusted) winner of the event.
The 2013 Grand Prix was our most successful year on record with over 2900 entrants in 29 different races averaging of over 100 runners per event. Our Grand Prix has grown considerably over the years since the inaugural season in 1992 when only five (5) races were on the schedule.
We look forward to the 2014 Grand Prix with much anticipation as it will include some new events and over thirty (30) races. The 2014 Race Schedule has been posted on this website. As in the past, we will keep the website updated with race results throughout the year. Please note our old web address bridge2bridge.webs.com is being phased out and traffic will be directed to this website.
Runners can expect to see some new race distances as well. The biggest news is with the Bridge2Bridge race, as this year it will feature a Half Marathon along with the usual 5k race. A couple of 10k races have been added as well for all you runners that have asked for longer distance races in the Grand Prix.
