100TH BAY TO BREAKERS IS TOMORROW
By David Monti
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
(14-May) -- The 100th edition of the Zazzle Bay To Breakers, one of America's largest and most iconic road races, takes place tomorrow in San Francisco. Some 60,000 participants, many in costumes, are expected to take part.
The elite race features a five-minute early start for women, and a special "Battle of the Breakers" $25,000 bonus to the first athlete who crosses the finish line. That check went to Kenya's Lineth Chepkurui last year who, running alone, clocked a world best 38:07 to outdistance men's champion Sammy Kitwara by 68 seconds. Chepkurui is back this year, and will be chased by Ethiopia's Mamitu Daska, Oakland's Magdalena Lewy Boulet, and Ethiopia's Misiker Mekonnin Demisse.
The men's headliners are 2004 Olympic Marathon silver medalist Meb Keflezighi of Mammoth Lakes, who will have to work hard to beat 2009 Boston Marathon champion Deriba Merga, a notorious front runner. Three other strong Africans --Ethiopia's Tesfaye Sendeku, Morocco's Ridouane Harroufi and Kenya's Allan Kiprono-- are also entered.
The Zazzle Bay to Breakers features a challenging USA Track and Field-certified 12-K (7.46 miles) course. Starting at the base of the San Francisco Bay, the course rises steeply along the City’s famous Hayes Street Hill. Around the 2.5-mile mark runners climb an 11.15 percent grade between Fillmore and Steiner streets, bringing them to the highest point in the race, approximately 215 feet above sea level. The remainder of the course gradually flows alongside the Panhandle and through Golden Gate Park and ends at the Pacific Ocean.
