Hudy 14k Recap

After a 14 year layoff, the Hudy 14k came back in 2011.  The Hudy 14k was a race that the Clifton Track Club and the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati did in the late 80's up until the late 90's.  I did the race once in 1996 when it was held at the Schoenling Brewery at the corner of Liberty and Central Parkway which is now the Sam Adams Brewery.  Chad Sims, founder of the Hyde Park Blast, decided to revive the race and brought it back in 2011. In 2011, the race started and finished on Moore Street near the Christian Moerlein Event Center which was the old Husmans potato chip plant. Husmans also sponsored the original 14k for a couple of years. The race had about 2000 runners total. I am injured and could not train for the race so I did not run. Instead I volunteered to help at this race and I was a course marshal to make sure runners did not get lost. 
It took awhile to get all the course marshals and fluid station personnel situated on the course so the race start was delayed for about 15 minutes. As they took us out, they took us along a significant portion of the course.  The course was confusing in some parts. The signs marking the breweries were a nice touch.  I looked for the Foss Schneider sign which was on Dalton Avenue. I do not believe that was the actual location but close enough..  Eventually, I get to my spot with two other people and it was confusing what to tell the runners where to go due to an issue with marking the course.  Because of how the cones were set up, it was hard to tell where the runners should go.  The group leader  did tell us what to do but it went in one ear and out the other.  After trying to figure out the course map, it just came down to one basic premise - where the lead vehicle goes, the runners go(Let's hope the lead vehicle knows the course). After the lead vehicle showed the way, it was easy except for those poor souls who were running the 7k and missed the turnaround. I saw quite a few people from the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati running the 14k.    I  was surprised with the distance between the lead runners and the rest of the pack. After I finished with my volunteer duties, I walk the last 1-1.5 miles of the course to the finish.  I decided to avoid the Brighton Overpass and jumped over to Central Parkway. I picked up the course by at Mohawk and McMicken, caught up to the last participant and walked in. For volunteering, you get two free beer tickets, free doughnuts when you sign up and free food. However, the lines were too long await for beer food etc and I had to be somewhere by noon.  The area was quite crowded so they may need to expand for 2012. Hopefully, they will do it next year, fix the issues with the 7k and I will be healthy enough to run the 14k.    Race Results.