Race Overview

When Frank Cashman from the Grand Rapids Track Club approached Marty Allen, then Marketing Director for Old Kent Bank, in the mid 1970s about initiating a local road race, Allen was intrigued. Cashman worked out what he felt was the perfect distance, a 25K that started and finished in downtown Grand Rapids and Allen pledged the funding. In 1978, just over 1,000 runners took to the streets for the first annual Old Kent River Bank Run.

The Fifth Third River Bank Run will celebrate 32 years of road running with Fifth Third Bank as its major sponsor. More than 16,000 people are expected to compete in the 2009 event that features the 25K which has grown to become the largest 25K road race in the country and offers the only 25K wheelchair racing division in the world.  The USA 25 km Open and Masters championships will run concurrently with the 25K event.   In addition to the 25K, participants can choose from the 10K Run, 5K Run, 25K, 10K and 5K Run Team Competition, 5K Community Walk and Junior events.

Consistently ranked as one of the premier road racing events in the United States, the Fifth Third River Bank Run is site of the Women's 25K American record (1986), former Men's 25K World record (1998) and Men's 25K Wheelchair Racing Division World record (2003). The 25K has been site of the USA 25 km Open Championship since 1995.

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $116 billion in assets, operates 18 affiliates with 1,298 full-service Banking Centers, including 93 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,329 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of September 30, 2008, has $196 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $ 30 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ(R) National Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB." Member FDIC.