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, revived 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. Christian Moerlein is in the process of converting the Event center into a local brewery, so a new location was needed for 2012. For 2012, the event was moved from Moore Street to the brand new Smale Riverfront Park next to the Christian Moerlein Lager House. Surprisingly, the 14k Course changed very little except that you started and finished in a different location. The 7k was a whole new course but still an out and back and I heard that they did mark the turnaround this year.
I was coming off an injury and could not train for the race so I volunteered to help at this race through Give Back Cincinnati. I was a course marshal to make sure runners did not get lost and to make sure that cars did not hit the runners.
In 2012, they got the course marshals and fluid station personnel out on the course in ample time and the race was able to start on time. They split us into two separate buses as one bus covered the first part of the course and another covered the second part. Both left well before race start. The signs marking the breweries were back for 2012. I got to my spot which was near the last fluid station on the course up near McMicken and Walnut. One of the interesting things about Over-the-Rhine is how one street can fork into two or three separate streets at one intersection, a common occurence on McMicken as all roads seem to end at McMicken. At my spot, I set-up the cones for the turn as the street was pretty active until about 10 minutes before the first runner. Once the cones marked the course, I cheered the runners as they came and some simple traffic direction. I saw quite a few people from the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati running the 14k. I was surprised how long that they allowed the course to be open compared to 2011. After I finished with my volunteer duties, I walked with the other volunteers back to Smale Park via Vine Street. For volunteering, you get a free beer ticket, free doughnuts when you sign up and free food. However, the lines were too long to wait for beer food etc and I had to be somewhere by noon. It was a good experience to help with a race. Hopefully, in 2013, I will be healthy enough to run either the 14k or at least the 7k.
Race Results.
