Posted
on May 15, 2016
It's
billed as the oldest footrace in America. But the 12-kilometer route
from the San Francisco Bay to Ocean Beach (which of course has "Breakers," as in waves) is actually
the longest- consecutively-run footrace in the WORLD!
(Other
races have skipped years or changed courses or changed lengths over
time.)
It's
billed as a race built by the people. It was first started as a way
to lift the spirits of the city of San Francisco after the devastating
1906 earthquake.
Once
the tradition got going, people kept it up. During World War II, few
people came out for the race--fewer than 50. Still, some people came every year,
even then, and so the tradition continued. The 1986 race set a world
record for the largest footrace, with 110,000 racers. Nowadays some
30 to 40 thousand participants register every year, and many more
thousands walk behind the runners, swelling the number of
participants to 50,000 to 80,000.
Since
1912, over 1.8 million racers, many of them costumed, have run the Bay to Breakers
Race.
According
to the official website,
that 1.8 million has included runners, walkers, and centipedes.
Centipedes?
Well,
remember that some participants choose to dress in costumes. We're
talking Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider Man, unique characters
like this pink gorilla...
The centipedes are not people dressed up as the arthropods, as you might suppose. Instead, there is a special division of the race called “centipedes.”
Thirteen runners run together while being tethered. The leader of the
pack is called the Head Pede. An untethered fourteenth runner is
allowed to run alongside the centipede; he or she can help pace the
runners and can sub in if someone has to drop out.
This division is very competitive. Really good running
teams such as University of California track teams sometimes
participate in this division!
Check out a few more costumes:
Salmon who run “upstream”... |
"I Dream of Jeannie" genies |
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