The Richard S. Caliguiri City of Pittsburgh Great Race, known most commonly as the Great Race, is a major 10 kilometer foot race organized and operated annually by the City of Pittsburgh Department of Parks and Recreation (Citiparks) in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in the United States, named in honor of former mayor of Pittsburgh

Richard S. Caliguiri Richard S. Caliguiri (October 20, 1931 – May 6, 1988) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1977 until his death in 1988. Early career Caliguiri was of Italian Arbëreshë people, Arbëresh ances ...

. Established in 1977, the race has been held the last Sunday of September each year except 2003, when the City of Pittsburgh government faced financial difficulty. Since the revival of the

Pittsburgh Marathon The Pittsburgh Marathon (also known as Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual road marathon usually held on the first Sunday in May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, first held in 1 ...

in 2009, participation in the Great Race has increased dramatically, meeting registration caps enacted to limit the total number of runners. By 2010, the race was considered the largest 10k race in Pennsylvania and tenth largest in the United States. A 5k race immediately precedes the 10k race, which essentially follows the second half of the 10k course. Both races finish at the same location in Point State Park in downtown Pittsburgh. By 2014, nearly 16,000 runners were registered between the 5k and 10k races, and in 2015 the race is capped at 11,000 runners in the 10k course and 5,500 runners in the 5k course for a total of 16,500 entrants. Beginning at the foot of

Frick Park Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, covering . It is one of Pittsburgh's four historic large parks. History The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayto ...

, the course of the Great Race leads through some of Pittsburgh's best-known neighborhoods, including

Squirrel Hill Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated a ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, The Bluff (Uptown), and

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. Runners pass the three largest universities in Pittsburgh during the race, Carnegie Mellon,

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, and Duquesne. Finishing roughly 400 feet below the start line, except for notable climbs in the first and fifth miles, the course is predominantly downhill, enabling a competitive race.Pittsburgh Great Race Map
From the race's official website, retrieved 18 July 2011

References

External links

Official website

Informational website
from the City of Pittsburgh Department of Parks and Recreation Road running competitions in the United States Sports in Pittsburgh Recurring sporting events established in 1985 Tourist attractions in Pittsburgh 1985 establishments in Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-sport-stub