Sports

Los Gatos Excited About Bay to Breakers

Several runners and walkers from town are expected to participate in Sunday's centennial race.

Running groups in Los Gatos are getting ready for the 100th Bay to Breakers 12K race this Sunday by spreading the good word about the hugely popular event and getting their gear ready.

"It's a fun environment," said employee Dominic Pezzoni, who's never participated, but thinks the event is a great way to bring groups together to compete, have a great time and enjoy the sport.

This year, Patch is a sponsor of the race and will have a booth at the West Concourse of the San Francisco Design Center, 635 8th St. @Brannan Street. The expo will be free to the public and will be open 11 a.m.-7 p.m.Friday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Los Gatos Patch will be volunteering at this booth Friday afternoon, 4-7 p.m. If you're participating in the race, we would love for you to stop by, say hello, tell us your story and get your photo taken. We'll run those pics on the site the day of the event.

The race this year is expected to have more than 50,000 participants running and walking as the name implies from the northeast end of the downtown San Francisco area near The Embarcadero (the "bay" side of the city) to the west end of the city and the "breakers" of Ocean Beach.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The 7.46-mile of 12-kilometer course features world-class athletes in addition to costumed runners and 'fun-loving' folks out for a great day of running and walking through San Francisco, according to the event's Web site.

At the end, finishers will enjoy the Footstock festival at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Footstock will feature food booths, a beer and wine garden, musical entertainment, the Annual Costume Contest, t-shirt pick-up, an alphabet garden for meeting friends/family, and other fun festivities.

Willie Harmatz, co-owner of the Los Gatos store, said the race is probably the oldest in the country and the most popular in California, "maybe even in the country."

He predicted more than 100,000 spectators, many from Los Gatos and the South Bay, would convene in San Francisco to watch the event.

"It will be on television. It's a great event. People run it, walk it, dress up for it. There's costumes. It's just crazy," Harmatz said. "When the gun goes off you have to wait 10 minutes to cross the starting line. It's not a real real if you're not elite. It's more of a social event."

Harmatz said his customers have been talking about Bay to Breakers for the past few weeks due to its fun factor and the opportunity it provides to get together with other runners and see what San Francisco is all about.


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