Athletics: Bay To Breakers: Nightmare In The City By The Bay?

By James Raia

On a chilly morning a dozen years ago, I stood across the street from the Pacific Ocean waiting to witness my first Bay to Breakers finish.

Despite a thick fog and a bone-chilling breeze that not even my scalding-hot coffee could neutralize, the front-runners proved impressive.

In fact, it was worth the 100-mile, early morning drive just to see Olympic marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson cross the finish line wearing oversized lobster-shaped gloves.

However, it wasn’t until the costumed multitudes began to arrive -- a scenario I since have witnessed several times -- that the true stories of the running event once billed as the world’s largest footrace began to unfold.

Inhibition gave way to creativity as the masses paraded through the finish area. Shouting a variety of personal approvals, waves of celebrating runners continued to arrive -- many in strange attire, some even sans clothes.

Despite the mass enthusiasm, which will again unfold May 16, I watched numerous runners cross the line with bloodied limbs and faces. Runners with frightened expressions struggled through their final strides. Others runners hobbled across the massive finish-line scaffolding suffering, their bodies mush after undertaking the 7.5-mile journey inappropriately trained.

Unfortunately, despite my advocacy as a veteran long-distance runner and running journalist, it is the aforementioned images and other circumstances that have fostered my mixed feelings about Bay to Breakers.

On the positive side, when the estimated 50-75,000 runners make their way through the city’s streets during the annual event, the excitement will likely provide incentive for many first-timers to remain active in the sport.

That’s important. Watching someone get motivated about running and monitoring their improvement (just as friends did for me when I began to run in 1983), bolsters camaraderie and a friendly competitive spirit within the running community.

Additionally, as the world’s largest footrace, Bay to Breakers generates enormous local and national media attention. This is certainly good for the sport since most running events are buried on the back pages of newspaper sports sections or not mentioned at all.

Bay to Breakers, in fact, may get more coverage than it deserves. But if running is benefiting and it draws some attention away from the behemoth prima donnas of many mainstream sports -- if only momentarily -- then I’m pleased.

Nevertheless, Bay to Breakers and the runners who participate in the event are often far from all wonderful. Unfortunately, the race has developed bad habits over the years. And as a consequence, I know most of my running friends and acquaintances don’t ever consider Bay to Breakers as an important part of their running calendar.

One strictly personal frustration is motivated by false ego. I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard various versions of the following conversation in coffee shops, on airplanes or at the grocery store.

First person: “I got my run in this morning, and I feel great. You ought to get into running.”

Second person: “I’m into running; I run Bay to Breakers every year.”

Another example of the same conversation usually begins:

First person: “I like to run in the morning before going to work.”

Second person: “Oh, you’re a runner. Then you must have run Bay to Breakers.”

Running in Bay to Breakers is fine. But it doesn’t count to run one event each year, do little or no training between appearances at the race, and call yourself a runner.

Considering the size and lack of experience of the masses, injuries are not uncommon during Bay to Breakers. Hundreds of scrapes, bruises and cuts are reported each year.

And each year, as a matter of mathematical probability, there are always a few cardiac issues. Even deaths occur, as in the case of my friend’s father, Kenny King, Sr., who died at age 77 while participating in the 1988 race.

Collect 75,000 runners or gather 75,000 people doing anything and it’s likely they’ll be problems.

And with this in mind, perhaps Bay to Breakers organizers should consider limiting the field. The race goes to great lengths to provide adequate medical precautions. But if a runner needs medical attention, why risk not being able to help someone, simply because they couldn’t be attended to quickly enough?

Unfortunately, the runners don’t help themselves, either. They line up at inappropriate positions at the starting line, usually too close to the front of the pack. This prompts confusion when faster runners attempt to pass slower participants.

The result is that runners can literally get trampled. Further, when the same ignorant runners compete at other events, they bring their bad Bay to Breakers habits with them.

Worse, I’ve heard tales of unsuspecting runners crashing into parking meters or swarms of runners running over the tops of parked cars, particularly near the start when the crowds are the thickest. This hardly puts the sport’s best foot forward.

Many middle-of-the-pack runners, keen to the predicament, often jump into the event, unofficially, from alleys during the first mile. Of course, this practice is unfair to the runners who have waited patiently at the designated start.

Unfortunately, too, while Bay to Breakers continues to prosper, less well-known but equally relevant and more enjoyable events have been canceled. In short, Bay to Breakers, the chain store of running events, is swallowing up the mom-and-pop runs.

Perhaps my opinion is a minority voice, and as a one-person protest, I won’t be running Bay to Breakers.

However, I am not completely calloused. Best of luck on Sunday. Be kind and courteous to your fellow runner. And may you finish strong and unscathed, and may you be motivated to run more than once a year.

© Copyright 2004, James Raia

Posted with the permission of James Raia.

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