San Francisco hosts famous annual footrace

By Nicole Harris

There's only one event where, in a seven-mile radius, you will find thousands of tortillas, naked people, kegs and marathon runners: Bay to Breakers.

The event, which was held on May 18 in San Francisco, is an annual 12K footrace. Yet for the thousands of people who attended but didn't compete in the race, Sunday was a day to dress up in various, costumes and party.

"It's the greatest day of the year," said junior Mark Melnyk, who has attended Bay to Breakers for the past three years. "It's just a mass of people having fun with zero inhibitions."

Santa Clara students were among the biggest enthusiasts of this competition/parade, beginning their journey at the Santa Clara Caltrain station at 6 a.m.

There's only one word to properly describe these attendees: dedicated. It's funny how no one wants to register for 8 a.m. classes on Thursdays, can pull it off for Bay to Breakers.

"The train was completely packed," said junior Mike Ryan. "I was kind of nervous because it was my first time, but it was really fun to see all the Santa Clara kids there with their crazy outfits."

Besides the unique combinations of alcohol, the costumes are perhaps the most creative aspect of Bay to Breakers.

As usual, there were three categories of participants (actual runners don't count): the organized, the attempted and the ambivalent.

The organized are what make Bay to Breakers an entertainment staple. These are the ones who planned costumes months in advance. Forget comfort, they value creativity in bodily decoration -- sparse though it may be.

Babies, Nintendo characters and salmon (who walked the race "upstream" from the breakers to the bay) flooded the streets of San Francisco on Sunday, reveling in the attention they attracted.

Some of these organized costumed runners also created "floats" made of decorated grocery carts and kegs to "share the wealth" with the crowd.

While the organized are the faces of Bay to Breakers, the attempted are the spirit behind it all.

The attempted began the race with the organized, but somewhere between miles three and five -- or between the champagne and vodka -- they were separated from their group. This explains why lions could be found walking with babies and drag queens walking with priests.

To these people, however, it didn't matter that they didn't initially know their new companions.

No, these people were dedicated to fun and fun alone. Why be bummed that you lost your costume and friends somewhere in the streets of San Francisco when you can be naked and make new friends?

The third and final group of attendees are the ambivalent. The truly ambivalent are typically first-time attendees who drop out of the race and into Jack in the Box at roughly mile three.

The ambivalent are perhaps the most experienced Bay to Breakers celebrators. This is simply because in their sophomore year they were organized and in their junior year they were attempted.

But in their final, senior year of college they knew that, at Bay to Breakers, clothes drop faster than flies and memories are as fleeting as the first sip of champagne on the Caltrain.

Contact Nicole Harris at (408) 551-1918 or nharris@scu.edu.