The “Bay to Breakers” is almost a century old race run in San Francisco. It is run over a course of 12 km, beginning from the San Francisco bay area and ending at the breakers of the Pacific Ocean beach. Bay to Breakers is owned and operated by Wasserman.
The city of San Francisco was destroyed by a massive earthquake in the year 1906. In a bid to rebuild the town and to lift the spirits, people gathered together to hold events and the Bay to Breakers footrace was one of them.
The most interesting fact about this race is that it continued even during the World War II, although the number of participants diminished considerably. The race is all about fun and dressing up and in some cases dressing down to running shoes only.
Some participants run in the nude and some wear the craziest costumes imaginable. The “centipede” is an event in the race in which 13 runners bind together and run as a unit.
There is a serious side to this race as well; 41 runners from all over the world compete in the elite category of the race for the cash prize. There is a Finish Line Festival at the end of the race. The participants as well as the spectators enjoy musical performances by various artists.
The 3rd Sunday of May is eagerly awaited by the residents of San Francisco who will slip on their running shoes and run across the city from Bay to Breakers.
The race had the Guinness World Record for world’s largest footrace; it had 110,000 participants in 1986. In 2009, the race sponsors put a ban on floats, alcohol and nudity. It caused outrage as the people believed it would change what made the Bay to Breakers Race special.
