The Seven Mile Bridge run is an annual race held in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

by the Marathon Runners Club. The race is run as a benefit for youth activities in Marathon, Florida. The event was first held in 1982 to commemorate the completion of the

bridge rebuilding program. The bridge, one of the longest segmental bridges in the world, spans the channel between

Knight's Key Knights Key is an island in the middle Florida Keys, located entirely within the borders of the city of Marathon, Florida. Geography U.S. 1 (or the Overseas Highway) crosses the key near mile marker 47, at the western end of Key Vaca and eastern ...

and

Little Duck Key Little Duck Key is a small island in the lower Florida Keys. U.S. 1 (or the Overseas Highway) crosses the key at approximately mile marker 40, just west of the Seven Mile Bridge. The west end of the bridge terminates on this island. The islan ...

. It is one of the few races that takes place entirely over water, and actually covers a distance of - a little shorter than the name suggests. The local Sheriff's Department close the bridge between 6:45am and 9am, with the race kicking off at 7:30am. Runners therefore have up to 1 hour 30 minutes to traverse the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, and 'beat the bus' - if they can't keep up with the pace they are picked up by one of a small fleet of yellow school buses. A post-race party follows after the finishing runners are returned to the starting area by bus. Until 2012, entry to the race was via a postal lottery, with demand for places far outstripping the 1,500 spots available, restricted due to safety reasons. Applicants sent a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Marathon Runners Club before a specified deadline, at which date the Club sends all the applications to the prospective participants in the same delivery. The first 1,500 applications they then receive back are the 1,500 runners who gain entry. As a result, most participants were from the South of Florida and the

Keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

. Since 2012, registration has taken place online, typically with places filling up within an hour of opening. April 21, 2012 was the first that the race was not run as planned. There were severe thunderstorms over Knight's Key during the early hours of the morning and just before the starting pistol was due to fire, the decision was taken to abandon the race rather than allow the runners on the bridge to be at risk of lightning strike. The 39th annual race, scheduled for March 28, 2020, was canceled due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

References

Long-distance running competitions {{athletics-stub