Two decades of Bay to Breakers

2011 marked the 100th running of San Francisco's annual movingcostume party, the Bay to Breakers 12K, nee the Cross-City Race,first run in 1912 to celebrate the city's recovery from the greatearthquake and fire that had destroyed much of it six years earlier.

While the race probably reached the apex of its popularity in themid-1980s (when as many as 100,000 runners and walkers are reportedto have participated), it's a tradition that still defines the startof spring for many, both in San Francisco and around the country.

It has been my great pleasure, since arriving in the Bay Area in1990, to document this paean to athleticism, imagination, humor and,yes, debauchery, every year since. When I first arrived, the racewas sponsored by another newspaper, and thus was given short shriftby editors who did not wish to promote our competition.

With the demise of that paper, and the ascendance of theInternet, however, this seems like a perfect time to display agallery of photos that have never been seen outside a couple ofdarkrooms in Hayward and Oakland.

Happy 100th, B2B, and though I won't be there for it, I sincerelyhope these photos will entertain those hardy souls who run in the200th edition. Who knows? Maybe that race will be sponsored by thisnewspaper.