MIDDLEBURY — More than 900 runners have signed up to run the sixth annual Middlebury Maple Run this coming Sunday, May 5. The half marathon starts at the Porter Medical Center at 9 a.m. and will necessitate closing a few roads for several minutes while the crowd of runners moves through the downtown area.
Runners begin at the northern parking lot of Porter Hospital and head north on South Street to the municipal building, then the route jogs northwest to Weybridge Street for two-thirds of a mile before taking a right (north) on Pulp Mill Bridge Road. From there the runners follow a route past the Morgan Horse Farm, take a left on Hamilton Road for a quarter mile and head back south on Sheep Farm Road, which is about the five-mile point and at which point the runners are dispersed enough not to require traffic control, but still frequent enough that motorists need to use extra caution when passing the runners.
The route takes a left at the junction of Weybridge Street and Sheep Farm Road, heads back into Middlebury and veers right into Middlebury College and runs through the campus back to South Street right past Old Chapel and through the Arts Center parking lot and past the soccer field and track. The final five miles is a loop out South Street and back to the hospital.
Area drivers are asked to try to avoid using those downtown roads affected right after the 9.m. start, or to be patient while the runners head up South Street and on out Weybridge Street. Allow about 10-15 minutes for the runners to thin from those two roads, and afterwards no undue traffic delays are expected.
“We hope everyone appreciates that Middlebury is hosting this growing event as it’s spreading a good vibe about the town and the greater Middlebury area, and bringing more and more commerce to town over the weekend,” race co-director Andrea Solomon said about the race, adding that “we’re also encouraging residents and drivers who happen to get caught in that initial traffic delay at the start to get outside their homes or cars and cheer on the racers! It’s going to be a terrific day and we hope everyone has a lot of fun and a great race.”