The hills, trees and backwoods riverbanks of Michigan's Huron River Drive are the setting for the annual Dexter to Ann Arbor Run, a road race event with a half-marathon, a 10K, a 5K and a kids fun run that takes runners on a course exactly as its name suggests, from the town of Dexter along an eastward route along the Huron River to the finish in downtown Ann Arbor. The event also includes a separate 10k, the USATF 10k Masters Championship that starts 2 minutes before the regular 10k. The Ann Arbor Track Club manages the entire event and is hosting the Masters Championship for the 3rd year in a row in 2012.

First run in 1974 as a way to commemorate Ann Arbor's sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary that year, the race was originally run as a 15-mile race that took runners on an out-and-back course along Dexter-Chelsea Road. Though it has gone through many changes over the years -- the addition (and later subtraction) of a half-marathon relay, as well as the 10K and 5k that are run at the event today -- the race got its current slate of events in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when it was scheduled to coincide with Ann Arbor's popular "Taste of Ann Arbor" food festival.

Hilly and fairly challenging -- though not overly so -- the race is run on paved surfaces throughout the entire course, and features its only real flat stretches of any length for two miles during the entire race.

The race starting line for the half-marathon is at Dexter's Creekside Intermediate School on Baker Road. From there, the field of 3,000 half-marathoners (out of an expected 7,000 participants overall) follows a counter-clockwise loop through Dexter to Huron River Drive, which they follow as its winds along the shores of the river for most of the race.

The course runs through a series of parks on its way to Ann Arbor, including Dexter Huron Metropark, Delhi Metropark and Bird Hills Park. Once in Ann Arbor, runners begin the final stretch of the race along North Main Street, which is also one of the hilliest parts of the race and actually ends on an uphill to the finish line.

dexterannarborrun.com

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