The Spring Thaw

 

The Spring Thaw started its life as the First Annual Boston Marathon Qualifier Marathon on Feb 20, 1977.  It was founded by Tom Abbot and Harvey Kucherer as an opportunity for Pittsburgh area runners to run a Boston Qualifying time in scenic North Park.  Since its founding by Abbot and Kucherer there have only been three race directors: Mark Courtney, Kevin Smith, and now Matt Imhof with GCXC.  At the time of its founding, it was the only opportunity for marathon distance locally.  The first event had 24 finishers, and grew to close to 200 by 2000.   

Over time, the race evolved from a marathon to a multi-distance event (10, 15 and 20 mile options) with a well-loved post-race soup buffet!  Unfortunately, after a mid-2000s peak of over 1000 participants, registration fell and the soup was scrapped in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

In 2020, the race was taken over by GCXC Race Timing, after purchasing the rights from Pro Bike + Run.  In 2022, GCXC added the shorter 5 mile distance to encourage more Pittsburgh runners to participate.  It has now become the 2nd most popular of the 4 race distances.   GCXC looks forward to continuing the great tradition of this race and, while always striving to innovate, ensuring the event's prominence on the spring race calendar in the Pittsburgh area.