Seven Mile Bridge to Close Temporarily Saturday Morning, April 2, for Foot Race
MARATHON, Florida Keys -- The Seven Mile Bridge, longest of 42 spans on the Florida Keys Overseas Highway, is to close temporarily to vehicular traffic during the early morning hours of Saturday, April 2, for the annual footrace over the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.
Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies are to stop traffic for the Seven Mile Bridge Run beginning at 6 a.m. and are to reopen the bridge at 9 a.m.
The race is set to begin at 6:45 a.m., and go from a west-to-east direction, with the finish line at the Marathon side of the bridge.
The April contest has become one of the most popular running events in the southeastern United States, typically filling all 1,500 racing slots.
Some runners in the men's division will aim for the course record of 32 minutes, 59 seconds that was set in 1998 by former Keys resident Paul Marmaro.
Sonja Friend-Uhl of Brentwood, Tennessee, set the longstanding women's record of 37:15 in 2004.
The Seven Mile Bridge Run is the only scheduled event that requires the famous bridge to be temporarily closed to vehicle traffic.
The 40th annual footrace is to be staged in a west-to-east direction, which is only the second occurrence since its inception. Pictured: runners from 2019.