• I’m just learning about this route now? •
[2½ MIN READ]
A club as long-lived as SRC (circa 1985) is bound to have bits of history that newer runners like me (circa 2012) will never know or will learn only incidentally. One historical fact of the latter type is the existence of the Four Sisters of Manayunk and their eponymous run. Running from the Philadelphia Canoe Club to Shawmont Avenue every week takes the Shawmonter past Ridge Avenue going up to Hermit Street and the other 3 streets that go up from Main Street to Ridge Avenue, but those streets never themselves came up as running features: Shawmont Avenue has always been enough.
Kenny Baby’s Facebook group post and Dr. Ned’s response resurfaced the 4SM Route: “The Philadelphia Cycling Classic is coming back next year after a long absence! Maybe we can get a group together to ‘run’ up The Wall the day before the race, like we used to do.” “If I recall, we did it as the ‘4 sisters’ run where we did all 4 of the big hills of Manayunk. Nice challenge.”
Wha’??!! That sounded awesome! How could I only be hearing of this route, now? I’ve done 20 milers for ages, but only using the Art Museum going east and the Schuylkill River Trail going west; the ways SRC-ers have always recommended.
The search for more information about the 4 Sisters of Manayunk route was kinda fruitless, at least relative to Facebook: There’s no written record of anyone doing it since the SRC group’s formation. Enter MapMyRun and oral information. A passing inquiry with those who preceded me in the club confirmed the route to be 20 miles, including Ridge Avenue itself from Main Street to the ice cream shop at Hermit and Righter Streets. A look at the map confirmed the 3 other streets that went from Main Street to Ridge Avenue: Shurs Lane, Green Lane, and Leverington Avenue. The mapping of a route up and down each of the 4 streets in the middle of a Shawmont Avenue effort confirmed the 20-mile distance.
With 2025 Philadelphia Marathon imminent (11’23’Sun) and the need for another 20-miler, I had to do it. The morning of my effort, KayCee asked, “What are the 4 Sisters?” Then she said, “Eww,” when I explained. My-Oh Maya asked, “What are the 4 Sisters?” Then she said … well, you can guess the response. Scottsy asked, “What are the 4 Sisters?” Then he said, “Huh, I’ll do that with you.” And we did it (actually minus a ½ mile up Ridge because we turned back too soon) and it was awesome!
When we finished, Teddio and Dr. Ned were around to offer congratulations. Teddio said the route was probably the brainchild of club principal Zen Yanni: “You’ve probably never heard of it because it was never that popular.” Imagine! But Dr. Ned said that he and a few others regularly did it back in the day. Those runs probably got listed as Shawmont-plus-6’s.
Today is a new day. Let’s bring back the route and let’s name it, properly: The 4 Sisters of Manayunk Route. I’m going do it again before Philly, properly.
Read more: Revisited the 4 Sisters of Manayunk
I’m thinking about naming another new route: The 4 Sisters and Shawmont Manor. With thanks to Teddio for his inspiration, I think it should be called the 4 Sisters and Oh, Brothers. Sounds awesome!
–CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 10/25/25), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination with added caption
2025’11’05’W: Revised (“Read more” link)
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