‘Urbanathlon’ obstacles put racers to test
“We’ve all wanted to jump over a taxicab, right? It brings out your inner child.” — Ronan Gardiner, Men’s Health publisher
Who in their right mind would choose to spend Sunday morning running 10.2 miles, crawling under cargo nets and parked Subarus, hurling themselves “Dukes of Hazzard”-style over taxicabs before scaling up and over a yellow bus and climbing an 8-foot wall to the finish?
Some 2,000 people who were at the starting line at Pier 39 at 7 a.m. Sunday for Men’s Health “Urbanathlon,” which is part road race, part obstacle course and attracts the pain-impervious weekend warriors, the types who see bloody shins and arms (from commando crawls on the pavement) as Monday morning medals.
“Yesterday I ran a 14mile obstacle course, so this feels pretty easy,” said Le Earl Rugland, 38, who was the sixth person to finish the Urbanathlon. “It was fun.”
Rugland, who is from northern Minnesota, trains in his back yard,
where he’s set up 8-foot walls, barbed wire fences to crawl under, and cargo nets to climb.
“These things are addicting,” he said.
The obstacle course took runners from tire stepping and hurdling at Fisherman’s Wharf, up the long hill to Coit Tower, over to AT&T Park for stair climbing, along the waterfront for the crawl under the Subarus, and over and through an array of challenges involving netting, poles, cones and walls. In sight of the finish line at the Marina Green, racers faced a 40-yard dash, taxis to traverse, buses to scale and the imposing 8-foot wall.
The first place finisher was Guillermo Ramos Espinoza, from Kensington, Minn., who came in at 1:04:42, and the first female finisher was Jill Burford, from Oakdale (Stanislaus County), whose time was 1:15:59.
Ronan Gardiner, publisher of Men’s Health magazine, which hosts the races in Chicago, New York and (for the second year) San Francisco, stood near the finish line, having completed the race.
“We’ve all wanted to jump over a taxicab, right?” he said. “It brings out your inner child.” One of the great things about the San Francisco event, he noted, is the city’s famous built-in obstacles — the hills.
“You could see on the hills who the locals were and who the out-of-towners were,” he said with a chuckle.
Standing nearby was celebrity host Billy Bush of TV’s “Access Hollywood!” He was impressed by the array of moves runners used to traverse the taxicabs. “I did the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ slide,” he said. “But I saw smarter guys stepping right across the front bumpers.”
“What’s great about this race,” Bush added, “is the combination of testosterone, of health, of bromance, and having all of these things collide on a beautiful day in November.”
At the finish, a group of runners with prosthetic limbs congratulated one another. Some had done the entire race; others were part of the Challenged Athletes Foundation relay team.
“I did the last part of the race,” said Deborah Bevilacqua, 44, who lost the lower part of her leg in a motorcycle accident. “You are running along, and people are cheering for you. You feel like nothing can stop you.”
Mohamed Lahna, who is 30 and lost part of his leg to a congenital condition, completed the entire race.
“The toughest thing was climbing up the netting to the bus,” he said. “The prosthesis was going through the hole, so I had to climb it with one arm and one leg. It was a great challenge.”
Also exulting at the finish line were brothers Bertrand and Bernardo Newson. Tears streamed down Bertrand’s cheeks as Bernardo made it in.
“I’m so proud of my brother,” Bertrand said. “He’s five years out from a kidney transplant. He’s come a long way.”
Bernardo smiled. “I did this with one kidney. At the end, my legs were Jell-O, but I heard my brother yelling, ‘You can do it!’ and I did.”