Bay to Breakers 2008

Runners are getting into stride in the annual Bay to Breakers 12K race today. The race route starts at the Bay side of the city, runs through SOMA, through City Center, Hayes Valley, skirts the Haight and NOPA, into Golden Gate Park, and ends at Ocean Beach.

What makes this race a San Francisco treat is that some runners don costumes. Some run without benefit of clothing. It is a free-for-all fun time in the best of San Francisco tradition. There are serious runners, of course, in normal race attire, too.

The race began in 1912 as a testament to San Franscisco's survival of the 1906 earthquake. It was intended to be a precursor to the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, when San Franciscans were to show that the city was rebuilt.

The Cross City Race, as it was first called, had around 200 runners. The race now draws more than 65,000 participants and over 100,000 spectators. In 1986, the race won the title of World's Biggest Footrace in the Guinness Book of World Records when it had over 110,000 participants (with 78,769 registered as runners).

Photos from this year's race can be found here.