Swanzey Covered Bridges Half Marathon

This is a smaller half marathon that takes place in Swanzey, NH which is near Keene by the Vermont border. This race is a fundraiser for the students of the local Middle/High School and is in honor of the race founder who also used to be a coach for the school. This was an interesting race to compare to Blueberry Cove last weekend as they are both smaller races that raise money. However this race had a much cheaper entry fee and better production. If you sign up early this race is $60 which is a fair price for a race like this. If you sign up last minute the price does go up to $80 which may be a little overprice for this race but that’s on you for signing up late. This race starts at 9am which is a bit late for this time of year but it is mostly shaded and Keene is a bit cooler than other part of the state. This race is also about a 1.5 hour drive for me so even though it got a bit hot at the end at least I didn’t have to wake up super early or get a hotel. Communication was fine. Not the most detailed website or emails but all the essential information was communicated. There is the option for early packet pick-up but I got it the morning of the race. Packet pick-up and the finish is at the school and it went smooth. I was happy to see actual bibs though they were generic. There is also an okay cotton T-shirt but better than nothing. The start was about a block from the school. It was just on the road and there is not a timing mat for the start but it’s a small race with about 100 runners so everyone starts around the same time. I think there was a start flag to indicate it. The course is very scenic. You go under a number of covered bridges which is really cool. The rest is though neighborhoods and farms and pretty forests. It is one of the more scenic races I’ve done in NH and the covered bridges definitely added to it. The roads are open which isn’t my favorite and some had kind of tight shoulders. It was very well marked with both arrows on the ground and course marshals and volunteers. There were also mile markers and aid stations every 2 miles with water and gatorade. One negative is the last 2 aid stations had no volunteers when I arrived. Not sure if this was just for slower runners or if they were short on volunteers. The course isn’t too hard. I think about 400 feet of elevation gain. Mostly rolling hills nothing terrible. There is one section for maybe a mile that is non-technical rail trail the rest road. The toughest part for me was since it’s such a small race I was running by myself a lot and I find it harder to motivate myself to go fast when I’m alone as I tend to go in training run mode. The finish has a timing mat and a clock with your finishing time. I was slow but as my race on Monday had a tighter time limit my goal was to take it easy and finish around 3:30 which I did. The medal was much improved from what I’ve heard. It wasn’t the biggest or flashiest medal but a very cute covered bridge design medal. The finish area was very fun for a small race. There was a raffle and I ended up winning some kitchenware for my new apartment. There was also a BBQ which included veggie burgers and pasta salad. Overall I thought this was a nice, scenic small race. Personally I prefer the big, exciting race atmosphere and don’t love running alone so much so it wouldn’t be my first choice for a NH half for 50 staters but if you like smaller races that I would definitely recommend this one for you. Since I now live in NH and I don’t need a hotel for this race, I would do this one again.