For the 33rd year in a row, Vicksburg residents — as well as those from a lot of other places — will have their chance to tackle one of the region’s most unique running events.

Registration opened this week for the annual Over the River Run, a 5-mile run and race walk across the Old Mississippi River Bridge. The race is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9, with an 8 a.m. start. Runners and walkers will start at the Mississippi Welcome Center, go across the bridge to Delta, La., and then return to the Mississippi side.

The Over the River Run is a fundraiser for the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation.

“We absolutely look forward to this every year, and the community looks forward to it,” said SCHF director Stacey Mahoney. “It’s one of the few chances we get to get on that bridge, and this run pulls people from all around and that’s exciting. We’ve had people from 11 states in some years.”

The 2020 Over the River Run had a limited field and a wave start to comply with COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time — and, perhaps ironically considering the name of the current COVID variant, was postponed a week because of the arrival of Hurricane Delta in Mississippi.

Mahoney said it was too early to tell what sorts of procedures would be in place for this year’s run.

“If we have to implement any restrictions we will,” she said. “We’ll just have to wait and see how things go between now and October.”

Online registration for the 33rd annual Over the River Run is available through RaceRoster.com. Registration forms are also available at the SCHF web site at southernculture.org/events/otrr.htm or at the SCHF office at 1302 Adams St.

The registration fee is $30 for the 5-mile run and walk, and $15 for the children’s 1-mile fun run that will follow the main races. There is also a $125 rate for families of as many as five people. Late fees will apply to any registration received after Oct. 1.

The entry fees include entry to the race, a T-shirt and goodie bag, as well as admission to the postrace party at the Ameristar Delta Point parking lot.

For more information, call the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation office at 601-631-2997, email info@southernculture.org, or visit the SCHF web site at southernculture.org.