was the director of the MUSC Wellness Center. It was a natural fit; he grew up running in Mount Pleasant, following the recommendation of a doctor after a bout with rheumatic fever. “My father used to take me over to Hampton Park and make me run in the morning before school. So I was running way before my time,” Smith smiled. Even after two decades, he said the start of the race is always special. “To me, you know, the start is just spectacular. We
have all 40,000 people lined up to go. And now we’re starting people in waves. We start three to five thousand people in each wave,” he said. “Tere’s just something about getting over the bridge.” Smith maintains that the race, now a weekend-long
event, has a $30-million economic impact on the region. Besides the actual road race, there are walks, a wheelchair race, a pre-race expo and a Taste of the Bridge Run event – now at two locations. Racers and visitors come from across the United States and abroad. Many plan vacations around the events. Ho- tels are packed, restaurants buzz and shops cash in. “It’s the perfect time of year to come to Charleston,”
said Smith. “It’s just a party weekend. Everyone comes here to party.”
Te money the race raises is spread throughout the
region. Twelve charities, each supplying 100 volunteers, receive $100,000, other funds are directed to the Bridge Run Foundation for a grant program, and a scholarship fund has been established for culinary arts students at the Art Institute of Charleston. Each year, the artwork contest doles out a $1,000
prize to the artist whose work adorns posters and race materials. All entries are auctioned off for charity. Tis year, the Cooper River Bridge Run begins along pal- metto-lined Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant, winds northwest past Patriots Point, crosses the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, twists down the Charleston peninsula on Meet- ing Street and turns onto King Street. Runners will cross the finish line at Meeting and King near Marion Square.
invest in their health. Hamlin continues to champion that cause, even though he will be racing across the bridge on March 31 with somewhat of a handicap. He ran in the first race and many others, and, in 2012, he will be competing for the second time without the leg he lost in a farming accident in 2010. He was fitted
T
hirty-five years and millions of dollars later, the Cooper River Bridge Run still concentrates on its original goal: encouraging participants to
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