Stormy skies don’t dampen spirits at Bay to Breakers.
Wild costumes galore as 40,000 run 108th Bay to Breakers
Bay to Breakers runners were determined to make one of San Francisco’s most famous races-slash-rolling parties happen Sunday, whether it was soggy or sunny outside.
Fat gray clouds threatened to unleash a downpour on city streets, but the wet weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of 40,000 eager partygoers, who assembled at Howard and Main streets downtown for the 108th Bay to Breakers 12K footrace.
Adorned in feathers and a slew of superhero costumes that looked like a Halloween supply store on city streets, runners stretched and shivered in the stormy conditions before the air horn sounded and the race started at 8 a.m.
Ferries and trains unloaded thousands of
riders in the city ahead of the race. Father and son — Jim, 51, and Jimmy Snell, 15 — left their Los Altos home at 5:20 a.m. and hopped aboard BART in Daly City to reach the starting line.
“We figured we might have the best story to tell if it rains,” said Jim Snell, who ran his 10th Bay to Breakers, while Jimmy Snell ran his third.
They were both adorned in American flag costumes. “It’s just a 7-mile party,” Jimmy Snell said.
The race followed a course running westward from the Embarcadero, bringing runners over the notorious Hayes Street Hill, winding through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park, before ending at Ocean Beach for a photo finish.
Just 35 minutes and one second after the race began near the Embarcadero, Bay to Breakers had a winner: Gabriel Geay of Tanzania crossed the finish line under gray skies.
“I will most likely take it easy for the rest of the weekend, most likely just jogging,” Geay, 22, quipped. Bay to Breakers was his fifth race in the U.S. during a seven-week visit.
Four minutes and 27 seconds later, women’s race runner Caroline Rotich, 35, of Santa Fe, N.M., leaped across the finish line.
Some were serious about turning a morning jog into a proper workout. Stephanie Hirsch flew from Illinois to run her 10th race. “I like that it’s hard. It’s not going to be an easy race,” she said.
She did see that the forecast called for a wet start, but still planned to complete the full journey.
“I’m not worried about it all. I’m used to cold weather,” she said.
Among the costumes Sunday morning were two halves of an avocado, the Incredibles, a spam musubi, the Batmobile, a Beefeater and various superheroes. Some dressed in triedand-true animal suits, while others scrambled at the last minute for whatever was left at Party City.
Eugene and Joy Asuncion, both of Sacramento, spotted their avocado costumes on the clearance rack for $15 apiece.
“We’re individually plastic-wrapped,” Joy Asuncion, 43, joked as she gestured at her clear-plastic rain slicker.
The Deeg family began the race dressed in graduation caps and gowns, most decorated with the logos of their alma maters. They were celebrating Katie Deeg, 28, who is expected to graduate from UC Berkeley on Monday with a doctorate in chemistry.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a year,” Deeg said. “The rain won’t stop us.”
A few people flouted California’s open-container laws early in the morning with Coors Light cans in hand, but more runners opted for hot coffee from the Starbucks near the race’s entrance.
The crowd danced to alternative rock and pop songs at the starting line, shimmying to the beat in an effort to stay warm. Tortillas flew overhead, a starting-line tradition, and landed in grimy puddles with a splash, disintegrating into a mess of maize.
After the final stragglers strolled onto the course, Public Works crews flooded the roads to pluck litter from the streets.
By the time the clouds parted just before race time, a few distance runners shucked their clothing and rain gear in favor of going naked, or close to it. Garrett Hill, 43, shed his clear plastic poncho and blue running shorts in favor of a red Speedo.
Known as “shirtlessrunner” on social media, Hill has run nearly 50 marathons with his top off. His race companion Zachary Thomas, 25, dressed to parody Hill for the occasion, in a curly orange wig and a T-shirt decorated with abdominal muscles — a shirt that made Thomas look shirtless.
The two posed for photos in front of the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge as they made their way to the race corral. Hill flew from New York City for the race and a rare opportunity to tour the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints temple in Oakland, skipping a 5K in Brooklyn for the more colorful Bay to Breakers.
“This is one of those hashtag-only-in-SanFrancisco moments,” Hill said.