The Covered Bridges Half Marathon Goes Virtual in 2021

Non-Profit Team Runners

The Covered Bridges Half Marathon Goes Virtual in 2021!

In an effort to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and prioritize the health and safety of our community and our participants, race directors and race committee have decided to move forward with a virtual half marathon in 2021.

How will the 2021 CBHM Virtual Race work?
With a virtual race, you can run the virtual CBHM half marathon in your community! Run (or even walk) the distance on a course of your choosing. To be added to the race’s national results leaderboard, you can report your time with a tracking app – you don’t even have to record your time if you prefer not to!

Complete your virtual run (or walk or even stroll) between Sunday, June 6th and Sunday June 13, 2021. We will miss seeing you in person this year, so please tag @familyplacevt and use the hashtag #cbhm2021 on your social media posts, so we can cheer you on and congratulate you on a great race!

Virtual Race Registration:
New virtual race team members pay the non-profit partner registration fee ($95) and commit to a personal fundraising goal (this year, we suggest a minimum of $125). The intention is when you join a non-profit team, you are part of a group fundraising for our non-profit organization – you run on our behalf and gather donations to meet your fundraising goal. If you have any questions, contact us at CBHMteam@the-family-place.org or call 802-649-3268 for the link to the resgistration form. We are so grateful for our community’s support and we hope you can join us for the virtual race or next year’s in-person race!

Support Upper Valley families while running the most beautiful 13.1 miles in New England!

Frequently Asked Questions (for an in-person race):

What is a fundraising minimum?
A fundraising minimum is a fundraising goal that a runner agrees to raise by a predetermined date; the minimum fundraising goal is set by the non-profit race partners. When you sign up for any of the non-profit teams, you are agreeing to reach your fundraising goal by donations. If you don’t end up raising the predetermined amount of money, you are agreeing to allow us to charge the credit card provided during the signup process for the remainder of the fundraising minimum that wasn’t met with donations. For example, if your fundraising minimum is $500 and you raise $430, at the fundraising deadline, we’ll charge your card for the remaining $70.

My family and friends don’t want to donate online, can they send checks?
If someone writes you a check, please have them write it out to The Family Place. For all checks, please be sure to instruct your donors to also write your name on the memo line (so we can add to your fundraising total, otherwise we won’t know). Please send any checks to: The Family Place, Attn: Covered Bridges Half Marathon Team, 319 US Route 5 South, Norwich, Vermont 05055.

I don’t want to create a fundraising page, can I just pay the entire amount?
Yes, you can pay the entire fundraising minimum of $500 amount yourself.

Can you explain the connection between the non-profits and the half marathon?
The CBHM is deeply committed to supporting area non-profits. In a unique partnership, the CBHM allows several non-profit organizations to have teams in the race, and those non-profits use the race to inspire runners to fundraise for their respective causes.  The race draws runners from throughout the nation and sells out within minutes of opening, after which the only opportunity to run is to join a team raising support for a non-profit. The race committee has consciously limited the number of spots allocated to such efforts to maintain the feel and focus of the race itself. The current partners are: David’s House, The Family Place, Positive Tracks, The Upper Valley Haven, and WISE.

About The Covered Bridges Half Marathon:
The Covered Bridges Half Marathon was first run in 1992. Race founder David Cioffi and a group of community members got together to create a half marathon along some of the best running routes around Woodstock, Vermont. The course they designed was unique because of the four covered bridges along the way, two of which the runners ran through. The race is organized by a completely volunteer staff, under the corporate umbrella of CBHM, Inc., a non-profit corporation formed specifically to organize running events and donate the proceeds to charity. In recent years, non-profit groups – like The Family Place – have used the race to inspire volunteers to run on their behalf and raise funds for their organization. The race committee has consciously limited the number of spots allocated to such efforts to maintain the feel and focus of the race itself. Learn more about the race: http://cbhm.com/about/

Where do I go for for general answers about the race and course?
For specific race information (race check-in and bib pick-up) and for more general information (area lodging and course maps), the cbhm.com website has all the information!

Some of the amazing runners who ran 13.1 miles on behalf of The Family Place!

Testimonials:

“Just want to say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! What a spectacular race you gave us all today. Wonderful amenities, fantastic volunteers, and the most breathtaking course I have run in recent memory. I was a member of the charity team for The Family Place. That was a fantastic experience and I would do it again without hesitation.”

– Shira F.E.