Bay to Breakers

Bay to Breakers
Participants in the 2010 race
Date	Third Sunday in May
Location	San Francisco
Event type	Road
Distance	12 km
Established	1912
Course records	Men: 33:31 (2009) Sammy Kitwara Women: 38:07 (2010) Lineth Chepkurui
Official site	http://www.zapposbaytobreakers.com/

Bay to Breakers is an annual footrace in San Francisco, California on the third Sunday of May. It has been run for more consecutive years over a given course and length than has any other footrace in the world. The phrase "Bay to Breakers" reflects the fact that the race starts at the northeast end of the downtown area a few blocks from The Embarcadero (adjacent to San Francisco Bay) and runs west through the city to finish at the Great Highway (adjacent to the Pacific coast, where breakers crash onto Ocean Beach). The complete course is 7.46 miles (12.01 km) long.

Bay to Breakers is well known for many participants wearing costumes. From 1986 to 2010, it was officially the world's largest footrace with 110,000 participants, until it was surpassed by City2Surf event in Sydney. Attendance in 2015 was reported at roughly 50,000. That year, Zappos.com signed on as the multi-year title sponsor of "Bay to Breakers"; the name of the race became "Zappos.com Bay to Breakers".

Started as a way to lift the city's spirits after the disastrous 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it has been run for more consecutive years over a given course and length than has any other footrace in the world; although other footraces are older and have been run for more consecutive years, their courses and lengths have changed over time. During World War II participation sometimes slipped below 50 registrants, but the tradition carried on. With 110,000 participants, the Bay to Breakers race held on May 18, 1986 was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest footrace. That record number was partly the product of the running boom of the 1980s; currently the average participation is between 70,000 and 80,000. Many participants do not register, of the estimated 60,000 participants in 2008, 33,000 were registered. The San Francisco Examiner, a former sponsor of the race, published a list of the first 10,000 finishers the day after the race each year.