Thousands brave rain to run Broad Street: ‘Everybody comes out, no matter what’

As a light rain fell Sunday morning, Michele Savidge held her granddaughter, cheering on the runners streaming down Broad Street in Center City while they waited for a glimpse of Savidge’s daughter.

“I just said, it’s the third year in a row we’ve had rain,” said Savidge, who was poured on while watching last year’s race. But she and 1-year-old Kaia McKenna — a first-time spectator who was clapping as runners passed — weren’t daunted by the drizzle.

“It’d be nice if it were a little drier,” said Savidge, who lives in South Jersey and was watching the race with friends of her daughter’s. But “everybody comes out, no matter what.”

For the first time since the pandemic, this year’s Independence Blue Cross Broad Street Run reached its capacity — with 40,000 running the 10 miles down Broad Street. The race, led by Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and now in its 45th year, returned to its traditional finish at the Navy Yard, after being relocated for three years due to construction.

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Amber Zimmerman — a Philadelphian — was the top female runner, finishing in 52 minutes, 52 seconds, while Kevin McDonnell, of Cherry Hill, placed first among men, with a time of 47:33, according to race officials. Among nonbinary runners — a category introduced last year — Winter Parts came in first, setting a course record of 52:39.

In the wheelchair racing category, Miguel Jimenez Vergara won with a time of 34:14.

Despite the damp weather, spirits were high along Broad Street, as onlookers gathered on the sidewalks and in the median, holding posters and ringing cowbells.

Roberta McDevitt, from Burlington, N.C., was armed with pom-poms to cheer on her daughter, a swimmer at Drexel University running her first 10-mile race. McDevitt, whose sister flew in from Chicago to run with her daughter, was also cheering for other Drexel swimmers — as was Sophie Newell, 23, a recent Drexel graduate.

“It’s a little chilly, a little cooler than I expected for the beginning of May,” said Newell, but still “exciting to watch.” Newell had run some shorter races with her friends who were running Broad Street. “Maybe next year,” McDevitt chimed in.

Near Broad and Christian Streets, Mary Clare Parrott, 36, and her sons Freddie, 8, and Jacob, 5, were ready for the first wave of runners to arrive. “I wanted to show the boys all the excitement, all the people out — all the fun,” said Parrott, who had a number of friends participating in the race. (Freddie said he had “wanted to watch Star Wars on Sunday morning, “but I’m fine with it.”)

A member of the South Philly Striders running club, Parrott noted that for runners training for longer races, like half and full marathons, Broad Street is “more of a fun run. ... This is our fun, hometown run.”

Watching his first Broad Street Run, Rich Brome, who recently moved to Philadelphia from New York, said he was struck by the number of runners he saw, even on narrow Center City streets. “This is just a great running town,” said Brome, 45, who said he had gotten back into the sport himself and hoped to run next year’s race.

He and Josh Carr, 49, were stationed near Spruce Street with a sign that read “Feliz cinco décadas,” in honor of a friend running who turns 50 Monday. However, “I think we probably missed him,” Brome said. Carr added: “I don’t see a lot of people looking up to read all the signs.”

Several miles south, runners were reuniting with their friends and families. Leaving the Navy Yard, Miles Dryden, 34, was embraced by his mother: “You did it.” His nieces, who were eating soft pretzels, also surrounded him with hugs.

Compared to the Philadelphia Marathon, which features some hills, the relatively flat-to-downhill slope of Broad Street “felt good,” said Dryden, a Temple graduate who lives in the city and ran the race for the first time Sunday. He was buoyed by the crowd support — “everybody cheering for you when you’re coming down the stretch, right when you’re feeling super tired” — but was glad it was over.

For James McQueen, 12, the race was “hard and wet.” McQueen, who lives in Warrington, ran Broad Street for the second time. He was joined by his father, Scott McQueen, 45, who had run Broad Street 10 times before his son decided he wanted to do it, too.

“I was retired, and then I came out for him,” Scott McQueen said. His son loved touching “Power Up” signs held by spectators, and running through the city, McQueen said, “but the finish line is always a highlight.”

The best part, he said, is “knowing you’re done.”