Yeah, that race was nuts when I lived out there. I never did it because there were just too many people. I DID run in the Run to the Far Side though which was almost as nuts.
Maybe just 3 years off led to the decline?
Sometimes things that were once cool are not any longer.
Sometimes things that were once cool are not any longer.
Perhaps, I don't know. I have no love for the old-style B to B. I ran it once when I was fast enough to get placed in the sub-seeded corral. I was crushed by mobs of bandits and unseeded runners flooding onto the course from side streets during the first mile of the race. I swore never again.
Look at the decline of other once great or established races: Azalea Trail, Crescent City Classic, Gum Tree…likely something will fold. Just wish that these would stay instead of the stupid Rock n Roll races with $220 entry fees.
they've definitely cut down on the street-party aspects, which has hurt turnout the last few years it's been held. probably for the best, honestly, it was complete mayhem in the neighborhoods.
and this year, the pandemic is still going on, so...
they've definitely cut down on the street-party aspects, which has hurt turnout the last few years it's been held. probably for the best, honestly, it was complete mayhem in the neighborhoods.
and this year, the pandemic is still going on, so...
Yeah, the city hasn’t made it easy on them—lots of efforts made to kill the party, when the party was the reason the majority of people came.
San Francisco, a recently great city, has rapidly declined to a point where no one wants to visit an overpriced city full of homelessness, crime, urine, deification, tents, needles, and endless panhandling.
The city of SF has also encouraged a smaller field size with their increasing fees for course marshaling. They are also insisting that the race be completed within three hours.
Great Race that I am so glad to have been given the opportunity to do. I went out there with a couple of guys that invented ProStretch. One from New Jersey and one from Canada that was a mechanic. He was standing on a break shoe and then the product was born. So we are pushing the ProStretch at the Bay to Breakers trade show when Brad Hawthorne asks me to join in on the Powerpead for Powerbar. It was the first time Reebok lost. Gotta love it. Reebok was pissed when they would not let them into the elite athlete party at first. I knew some of those guys and they were elite runners that would soon get in. Mike Fanilly had a good party later that day where Brad gave us our bonus for beating Reebok.
This is a terrible race if you're not running from the sub-seeded corral. A walking event otherwise. The years I raced there getting out of the city after the race was a nightmare.
I never thought I'd miss the Golden Age of road racing. There were more than just 5-10 Kenyans/Ethiopians at the front of the pack.
We had American stars and (I've mentioned this before) they would hang out in the food tent post race. They would often show up at the expo or a running specialty store the day before.
I remember talking to Jerry Kiernan at a 5K. One of my favorite running articles was about his debut marathon in Dublin. He said it was like I was at the race when we talked about it.
At that same "clinic" someone asked a kenyan- what do you eat? He said- whatever you put in front of me. LOL
San Francisco, a recently great city, has rapidly declined to a point where no one wants to visit an overpriced city full of homelessness, crime, urine, deification, tents, needles, and endless panhandling.
It really is the liberal stuff though....I used to live in SF. City is a shell of what it once was so no surprise they let something like a road race slip. As the other poster mentioned this was more of a walk/community thing and getting out of the city was a complete nightmare after the race.
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