SAN FRANCISCO — Top international runners were joined by pirates, space aliens, leprechauns and naked middle-aged men as they took to the streets of San Francisco Sunday for the 96th Bay to Breakers cross-town jaunt.
The event, as always, combined world-class athleticism with drunken debauchery as 60,000 people ran, walked or stumbled their way toward the 7.46-mile course’s finish line.
“With divine faith and honor, we steer this vessel through the crowds!” said Pirate Captain Nathan James, 29, of San Francisco.
James and his crew of scurvy-ridden shipmates rolled their wooden boat, stocked with kegs of Pabst Blue Ribbon, down the road.
They offered beer and pirate-talk along the way.
The skies were slightly overcast when the race got under way minutes before 8 a.m., but the sun was shining most of the day.
Few knew it, but the event was struck by a tragedy early on. A 53-year-old man collapsed at the course’s finish line at around 9 a.m. He was pronounced dead at 10:03 a.m.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office later identified him as Joe Spinale of El Cerrito , but few details about his death were available.
Lost among the beer bongs and impromptu dance parties was the fact that, for some, Bay to Breakers is a real race — and one that attracts top international talent.
Edna Kiplagat of Kenya made history by becoming the first woman ever to cross the finish line first in a Bay to Breakers race.
Women runners were given a 4:40 head start over the men as they competed for a $25,000 “Battle of the Breakers” prize.
Kiplagat clocked in at 38 minutes, 55 seconds, finishing ahead of John Korir, also of Kenya, who finished the race in 34:44.
The Bay Area’s top men and women finishers were Tommy Greenless of Walnut Creek at 36:44 and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet of Oakland at 41:44.
Both said the costumed and drunken masses behind them did not take away their enjoyment of the day.
Quite the contrary.
“You can’t take yourself too seriously here,” said Greenless, a middle-school physical education teacher.
Lewy-Boulet agreed.
“If anything it relaxes me a little bit more,” she said.
A group of Elvis impersonators jumped onto the course mid-race Sunday, briefly surrounding a group of leading women runners.
Lewy-Boulet said they couldn’t keep up for long.
“Only a few steps,” she said. “Maybe less than 50 meters.”
The scene got zanier and zanier as more people approached the finish line.
After the runners came a posse of Star Wars storm troopers, Austin Powers-inspired Fembots and two naked guys on skateboards.
At least one woman used the event as a job fair. Marianne Dove carried a sign reading, “Google recruiter hiring brilliant minds.”
She said she did the same thing in 2006, and ended up receiving 500 resumes.
, including some that were sent via BlackBerry before she made it to the finish line.
Few costume ideas were off limits.
Dozens — mostly men — wore nothing other than running shoes. One group dressed as doctors, pushing along a woman who was giving birth.
Others, inspired by a certain Justin Timberlake Saturday Night Live skit that became a YouTube phenomenon, donned cheap-looking suits and strategically placed cardboard boxes.
“Reach in the box,” called Chad Walter, 32, of San Francisco, from the side of the road.
His box was filled with phallus-shaped gummy candies.
Before noon, officials began diverting people off the course in order to reopen roads for vehicle traffic.
By that point, some were headed for an afternoon hangover as they slept off their morning indulgences in Golden Gate Park.
Still, many were ready to do it all again next year. And some were already looking ahead to the 100th Bay to Breakers in 2011.
“Six years ago was our rookie year,” said Walter, gesturing to his group of friends. “Now we do it nonstop.”
