January/February 2016 Newsletter Vol. 32 Issue 1

President’s Message

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www.LVRR.orgEstablished 1993

Happy New Year to everyone. The winter of 2016 cannot be used by anyone as an excuse for interrupting their training.

2016 started with the club’s annual Dip in Da Creek fol-lowed by the 39th year of our New Year’s Day 5-Mile Run and Luncheon. January begins the start of major events for your club—Ice Scraper and Super Bowl along with major plannng for Emmaus 4 Miler, St. Luke’s Youth Run and the St Luke’s Half.

Towards the end of 2015, the club passed what could be con-sidered a major milestone. We eclipsed over 1000 members, and not by just. It’s quite a leap from a few people sitting on the bleachers behind Emmaus High School 40 years ago.

The club is sponsoring two fun events in the near future. First

is the show-ing of Caballo Blanco, the story of a legendary distance runner detailed in Chris McDougall’s won-derful book, Born to Run, on February 15th at Steel Stacks in Bethlehem. More details may be found further in the newsletter.

The second event is LVRR Night with the Phantoms hockey team on March 23rd. Board member Nina Skinner has arranged for an LVRR group night to see the Allentown team. It’s a super venue and if you’ve never been to a hockey game you won’t believe how fast the action is. Again, look for more details later in this issue.

Anyone who has ever run through Bo-gert’s Bridge, the red covered bridge, will find the article about its evolution and con-struction extremely interesting. We give kudos to Frank Whel-an and WEMZ.com for allowing us to reprint this fine article.

Please keep in mind the club gear available with a link from our website. When you show up at a race or just go for a run, proudly show off your LVRR duds!

As always, Good Running!Neal

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RACE CALENDARJanuary - February - March - April

LVRR Board of DirectorsNeal Novak, President

Leslie Billowitch, Vice President

Brian Schaffer, Treasurer

Nina Skinner, Secretary

Lloyd Trego

Loretta Dodson

Chris Garges

Brian Patterson

Laurie Reinhart

Bob Shively

Jill Forsythe

Bob Bodkin

Meredith Longo

Sunday 01/17/2016 10:00amIce Scraper 5K Winter Series #2Lehigh Parkway, Allentown PAwww.lvrr.org

Sunday 01/24/2016 11:00amChilly Cheeks 7 Mile Trail Run 11:00amReading PAContact: Ron Horn610-779-2668www.pretzelcitysports.com

Saturday 01/30/2016 8:00amPA State Snowshoe ChampionshipsSpring Mt. Ski Area, Spring Mount, PA5K snowshoe race, rentals available, Beginners welcomeContact: Ed Meyers484-941-3728edmeyers52@hotmail.com

Sunday 02/07/16 9:30amSuperbowl 10KLehigh Parkway, Allentown PAwww.lvrr.org

Saturday 02/13/2016 10:00amCupids Chase 5KRodale Cycling Park, Trexlertown PAContact: michele.reinert@comop.org

Sunday 02/21/2016 10:00amIce Scraper 5K Winter Series #3Lehigh Parkway, Allentown PAwww.lvrr.org

Sunday 03/06/2016 8:00amNaked Bavarian Trail Run20M, 26.2 M or 40MBlue Marsh Lake, Berks CountyContact: Stephan Weiss717-819-3760 Sunday 03/13/2016 10:00amIce Scraper 5K Winter Series #4Lehigh Parkway, Allentown PAwww.lvrr.org

Sunday 03/20 /2016 12:45pmWest End St. Patrick’s 5KMuhlenberg College, Allentown PAContact: Mike Drabenstott484-821-0920 x704www.westendstpats5k.com

Saturday 04/02/2016 9:00amFools Run 10 Mi & 5KKutztown PAwww.pretzelcitysports.com

Saturday 04/09/2016 9:00amBig Hearts Bright Hope 5K & 1 MiHanover Township Community CenterContact: Jennifer Gross610-821-4000 x 18www.tantracking.com

Sunday 04/10/2016 9:30amEmmaus 4 Miler ClassicEmmaus PA

www.lvrr.org

Sunday 04/24/2016 8:00amSt. Luke’s Half Marathon & 5KContact: Race Director610-434-9133www.stlukeshalfmarathon.com

Little Lehigh Parkway’s Bogert’s Bridge is a survivor. Built in 1841-42 when John Tyler was president and railroads were in their infancy, its first 110 or so years were spent in the normal task of bridges: carrying vehicles (horse-drawn and later motorized) over the Little Lehigh. About to be torn down in the 1950’s, it was rescued thanks to a group of local preservationists. Twice it was battered by trucks so badly that many felt it could never be saved. Then the state and local folks acted and it was restored.

Today, Bogert’s Bridge is among the oldest of its kind in the state and nation. This spring the Friends of Allentown Parks, headed by Karen El-Chaar, decided that it was time to give this great-grandfather of all covered bridges a proper birthday celebration. On June 12, 2016, the local non-profit is throwing a party

Bogert’s Bridge

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to recognize the bridge’s ties to local history. Among the many events taking place that day will be visits from impersonators of the people who were alive at the time. Included among them will be Abe Lincoln, famous as a young man for his skills with an ax, and Civil War General U.S. Grant, who was a young man at the time.

Bogert’s Bridge takes its name from members of the of Bogert family, who came from the German-speaking regions of Europe to Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. The land they settled on already had a special meaning to the Native American tribe known as the Lenape or Delaware, who had used it as meeting place for many years

before. Here the tribe would confer on affairs with other tribes and later colonial officials. As white settlers arrived, they realized it was a shallow spot that made for easy crossings of the creek. At first this was accomplished with stones but later the farmers built a bridge there which blocked the Indians from taking their canoes down the creek. Peter Bogert had built a cabin nearby, which was restored in the 1930s and is today known as Hunter’s Cabin. He was able to arrange an agreement between the Lenape and the settlers that satisfied both. As a result the tribe conferred on him a new name which has been interpreted as “Peacemaker.” About 90 or so years later, in 1841, after the Lenape were long gone and

members of the Bogert family were living in a stone home nearby, it was decided that a bridge was needed. At that time, America was undergoing a covered bridge building boom. In the Lehigh Valley it took the form of the establishment of the Lehigh and Delaware Canals in the 1830s. Now farmers had a faster way to get their produce to market, and anthracite coal, then the primary heating fuel of the day, could be carried more easily to Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Philadelphia.

In 1840, a year before the bridge was built, ironmaster

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David Thomas established at what is now Catasauqua the first commercially successful anthracite coal powered iron furnace in North America. Bridges like Bogert’s were needed to carry iron ore to the furnaces that by the mid-1840s were springing up all over the Lehigh Valley. The idea of covered bridges had its roots in German-speaking Europe. The first known covered bridge in America was built over the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia in 1805 by Timothy Palmer.

Bogert’s Bridge is a Burr Arch truss that takes its name from Theodore Burr, a bridge builder from Torringford, Connecticut. It consisted of two long arches that rested on abutments on either end. There are more bridges in Pennsylvania using the Burr Arch Truss (121) than any other design. Almost all of the actual builders of covered bridges are unknown. Most of them were highly skilled craftsmen, carpenters who had trained with others and learned by watching how it was done. Fortunately, thanks to a long tradition passed down in the Butz family, it is known that Bogert’s Bridge was built by Solomon Butz, who was a great-grandfather of Lee Butz. In the 1973 Morning Call obituary of Lee Butz’s father Alvin H. Butz, founder of the modern Butz firm, Solomon is given as the builder of Bogert’s Bridge. Later, in the first Allentown city directories in the 1860s and 70s, Solomon Butz lists himself as a bridge builder. By the time of his death in 1878, despite setbacks

following the Panic of 1873, he had established an extensive family construction business.

By the 1880s and 90s, modern times and technology began to catch up with the covered bridge. The inability to run street car wires through them led to their being gradually replaced with more modern open structures. They also had to compete with the railroads. Other hazards included fire, floods and just plain old age. Starting in the 1940s Bogert’s Bridge had its share of close calls. In 1945 the state highway department took charge of the bridge because it carried S. 24th St. which linked Hamilton Street (Route222) and Lehigh Street (Route 22). In 1946 a speeding truck crashed into it, causing the roof to sag. Attempts by the county to tear down the bridge were blocked in 1957 by the Save the Bogert’s Bridge Committee, a concerned citizen’s group. Call-Chronicle cartoonist Bud Tamblyn showed his support with his trademark “little man” character protecting the bridge using a canon. In the midst of the campaign another truck, carrying an earthmover, crashed into the bridge. Finally the state agreed to relocate the highway. Reconstructed by the state, the bridge was given to Allentown in 1964.Today Bogert’s survives as a pedestrian bridge, welcoming in its long retirement runners, walkers and others who want a taste of the past.

LVRR Film Night Run Free - The True Story of Caballo Blanco will premiere in Bethlehem, PA, on Monday, February 15th at 7 p.m. at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStacks, located at the Arts Quest Center, 101 Founders Way in Bethlehem.

The feature-length documentary is about ultra-running legend Micah True. Better known as Caballo Blanco, the White Horse, True was the focal character of Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-selling book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen about the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico.

Tickets are $12 in advance at www.imathlete.com/events/runfree or $15 at the door the night of the show. The event is sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Road Runners Club.

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BEST WISHES TO THE LEHIGH VALLEY ROAD RUNNERS!

www.dstortz.com

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VS.

Wednesday, March 23rd 7:05 PM • Tickets: $21

Lower Level Seats in the Phantoms Attack Zone!!

Friends and Family Night!!

*Deadline for all submissions is February 23rd or until Sold Out **No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are transferable

Please mail order form and check (payable to LVRR) to:

Lehigh Valley Road Runners C/O Nina Skinner

P.O. Box 592 Allentown, PA 18105

Ace of Scape LandscapingRecommended by the

LVRR for all your landscaping needs

Call Brett Palanski at610-217-3652

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The Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L NHC) and its partners had been receiving feedback from trail users – many of whom were runners and cyclists – about the need for mowing adjacent to the D&L Trail. In many cases, the vegetation was so high it was spilling over onto the trail, narrowing the path and creating catch and trip hazards.

While the D&L’s municipal partners and landowners typically do an excellent job of maintaining the trail, they sometimes lack the equipment and resources required to fully maintain their sections of the trail. The D&L NHC works with these partners to identify needs, find funding, and recruit and manage volunteers.

In 2014, the LVRR generously offered $5,000 to purchase equipment to help in this effort.

The D&L NHC decided a “brush hog” would be the best use of these funds. Runners who frequent the D&L between Bethlehem and Freemansburg area can witness first-hand the results of the purchase of the equipment. The D&L NHC would like to thank LVRR and its members for their generous donation to purchase this piece of equipment. It will help provide many years of maintenance along the 165-mile corridor from Wilkes-Barre to Yardley.

LVRR Supports D&L Trail Maintenance

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