International Half Marathon

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Sunday, October 15, 2017

On Sunday, October 15, 2017 I completed the International Half Marathon.  The event had approximately 26000 participants in all of its events.  The International Half Marathon started in Detroit, Michigan, USA.  The first three miles took the participants to the Ambassador Bridge for a one mile journey over the bridge into Windsor, Ontario, Canada.  The next three miles travelled through Windsor to the entrance to the Windsor Tunnel where the participants took a mile journey through the tunnel back to Detroit.  The final five miles travelled through Detroit to finish where the participants started.  The entire course was on paved roads that were completely closed to traffic which was mostly flat except for an up and down over the bridge and a down and up through the tunnel.  Water/Gatorade stations were located every 1.5 to 2 miles and were manned by plenty of efficient friendly volunteers where tables were located on each side of the road; however, because of the large number of participants the stations were somewhat crowded.  The predicted weather was less than ideal as the start had a forecast of showers and light winds and a temperature of 64 degrees and the finish showers and thunder storms with winds gusts as high as 45 mph and a temperature of 70 degrees.  Fortunately the showers never occurred and the wind gusts probably reached about 30 mph.  This was the first time that I have done this event which has been held for 40 years.  The race was very well organized and fun to do.  A unique necessity of this event was that each participant had to give their passport information when he or she signed up so background checks could be made by both the USA and Canada and each participant was require to carry their passport during the race in case one of the hundreds of custom agents from either country wanted to inspect it for any reason.  I did not see them stop anyone but can assure you that each participant was carefully observed throughout the race by custom agents, police and military personnel, especially in the USA.

Race Exposition

Before Race

Crossing Into Windsor, Ontario , Canada

Returning To Detroit, Michigan, USA

After The Race