Run For The Diamonds - Berwick's Thanksgiving Marathon

The Annual Berwick Marathon was held for the first time in 1908.  The Run For The Diamonds, occurring on Thanksgiving Morning has been an annual tradition, only missing two years during WW1.

There were 13 runners in 1908.  Held on unpaved roads., a referee on horseback followed the runners that year.

According to the Mount Carmel Item, 15,000 people came out to  watch the 13 runners compete.  Eleven of the runners finished the 9.5 mile course, with Harry L. Williams of Berwick winning with a time of 59 minutes and 37 seconds. (Spectators were consistently numbered at between 15,000 and 20,000, through the 1930s)

In 1909, Louis Tewanima, "a diminutive Hopi", became the races first star.  He went on to win the race in 1910, and 1911, as well.  Tewanima was a captive of the Carlisle Indian School.

Tsökahovi  Tewanima was a 5 feet 4 1/3 foot tall emaciated teenager on the Hopi reservation in Arizona, when the government came in and forced the children into boarding schools.

He was taken 2,000 miles away, and forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.  Jim Thorpe was also at the same school.  

In this 1912 Carlisle Indian School track team photo,  Tewanima is seated on the far right, Jim Thorpe is standing in the middle of the back row.

Today, the run is a "people's race", with thousands of runners join the race. But in the early years, the Berwick Marathon was an elite competition, with only a handful of participants.  Olympic Champions and World Record Holders competed in Berwick each year.

Les Pawson in the lead at the turn into summerhill avenue, 1940

Find all of the race results, for every year, here:

https://www.runfordiamonds.com/diamondresults

In 1956, Former U.S. Olympic runner, H. Browning Ross defeats a field of 39 top U.S. and Canadian runners to win the 47th annual Berwick Marathon for the 10th time in the last 11 years. His time in the Thanksgiving Day event is 46 minutes, 39 seconds.

 

Two women, the first females to enter,  raced in 1972.

1973 was the first year with more than 100 runners completing the race.  

And yes, the prizes really do include diamonds.

Prizes in 1946

The Prizes in 1957

1948

[1988 shirt]

Became the "Run For The Diamonds" in 1984.

The 9 mile race is too short to qualify as a marathon, so since winners receive diamonds as part of their prize, the race became known as the Run For The Diamonds

The Course

The course has remained essentially unchanged since 1908, running up a very challenging hill and through the countryside of Summerhill.

The race starts on Market Street in Berwick and goes north along that street for about a mile before turning onto Summerhill Road, which becomes Foundryville Road as it goes through the municipality of Foundryville. After passing through Foundryville around mile 2, it goes up a very long and steep hill known as "The Hill". After cresting the hill around mile 3.5, it heads mostly downhill to the halfway point where it turns onto Kachinka Hollow Road and continues descending to Martzville Road at mile 7. The course follows Martzville Road back to Market Street, and then after a mile on Market Street. However, from 1946 to 1954, the race finished at Crispin Field in Berwick

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In 2008, for the 100th anniversary of the race, a book was published with the races story history.

1908