Berkeley’s first-ever half marathon kicked off at 8 a.m. at Civic Center Park yesterday. It drew nearly 8,000 runners participating in one of the three race distances and more than $50,000 was raised for participating charities.
The marathon winners were both Berkeleyans: Anna Bretan, who also won the 2013 San Francisco Marathon, and UC Berkeley student JP Slater (read more in our story published yesterday).
There was one medical emergency, and at least one Berkeley resident said crossing town by car while the marathon was under way was near-on impossible. “There were no ‘detour’ signs anywhere along any of there streets going south-north which cross University,” she wrote us.
In opening remarks to the gathered crowd, councilmember Laurie Capitelli said the marathon as an “historic event.” Addressing the runners he added that as they ran through the city they would not be seeing “the Berkeley that your mom and dad remember.”
Here we publish a selection of the many wonderful photographs shared with us by Berkeleyside readers.
Related:
Two Berkeley runners win city’s first half marathon race (11.24.13)
The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend (11.22.13)
Downtown Berkeley to host first half marathon (08.29.13)
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