MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – The threat of gusty wind and some showers did not stop the thousands of runners and walkers who participated in the 46^th annual Cooper River Bridge Run.

The race officially began at 8:00 a.m.

Participants in the wheelchair category made their way over the bridge, followed by the elite runners, and each heat will be released thereafter until all runners and walkers cross the start line.

Jose Pulido, of Flaweri Branch, Georgia, was the first to cross the finish line in the wheelchair division at 7:58 a.m.

Athanas Kioko, of Kenya, was the first to cross the finish line for the elite male runners around 8:30 a.m., and Cynthia Limo, also from Kenya, was the first elite female to cross the finish line.

Both runners noted that windy conditions on the bridge impacted the Saturday morning run, even delaying their time by as much as two minutes.

There were 11 elite males and 11 elite females competing in the 2023 race.

The starting line for the Cooper River Bridge Run is located close to Simmons Street in Mount Pleasant, and heat markers begin near the Moultrie Shopping Center.

DID YOU KNOW? Oprah Winfrey ran in the Cooper River Bridge Run in 1994, and actor Bill Murray fired a cannon signaling the start of the bridge run in 1997.

Runners head down Coleman Boulevard, cross the Ravenel Bridge, head down Meeting Street onto Woolfe Street before making their way down King Street, up Wentworth Street and back up Meeting Street to Marion Square.

Today’s bridge run is drastically different from the first held in 1978, where 766 participants crossed over the Silas Pearman Bridge. Now, tens of thousands of runners will cross the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge as they make their way to the finish line near Marion Square.

The race was rerouted from the Silas Pearman Bridge to the Grace Memorial Bridge in 1980 and later moved back to the Silas Pearman in 1995. It moved to the newly constructed Ravenel Bridge in 2006.