Greatest Dipsea Runner #1: Sal Vasquez

ALL-TIME GREATEST DIPSEA RUNNER No. 1, SAL VASQUEZ

By Barry Spitz

(This article first appeared in the Marin Independent Journal of May 18, 2010)

Old Dipsea hands love arguing about just every aspect of their favorite race. But one big question—“Who is the greatest Dipsea runner ever?”—is never argued, for there is just a single answer: Sal Vasquez. Through the Dipsea’s first three-quarters of a century, no one had won more than twice. Then along came Vasquez, winning seven times. He seemed so certain to win even more that race organizers cooked up a handicapping penalty aimed specifically at him. It was immediately dubbed “The Sal Vasquez Rule.”

In his 14 Dipseas, Vasquez was a top-three finisher 11 times, and never worse than eighth (in his debut). In those 14 races, only four runners starting behind him ever passed him and stayed ahead. Beyond the great numbers is Vasquez’s sheer presence. Any year he entered, he was the favorite. Everyone starting ahead knew they would be stalked, and inevitably overhauled. Sal Vasquez is No. 1 on our all-time Dipsea list.

Vasquez was an ex-soccer player recovering from alcohol addiction when he took up running just shy of his 40th birthday. Within months, he was competing on a national level. At a United States championship race in Seattle, he was introduced to Dipsea legend Norman Bright. Vasquez was intrigued, and he entered the 1980 Dipsea.

Sal’s Dipsea career started poorly, as he fell in Suicide, then again while passing in Steep Ravine, the latter tumble leaving him with a tree limb protruding from his cheek. But he was undaunted. In 1981, Vasquez climbed to second, behind Florianne Harp. There was then no stopping him.

In 1982, Vasquez parlayed five head start minutes to finish 62 seconds ahead of Joe Ryan for his first win. In ’83, he ran down Russ Kiernan--No. 2 on our list of greatest Dipsea runners--late in the race to win by 16 seconds. Even better was coming.

In 1984, Patricia English started seven minutes ahead of Vasquez and proceeded to run a modern course record time of 56 minutes, 38 seconds. But Vasquez dug deep, doing what he needed to win. He somehow cut 84 seconds off his previous best time, running 49:18 and winning by 20 seconds.

Vasquez’s 1985 effort was no less spectacular. He not only finished first, he also won the Best Time trophy, at age 45. That was five years older than any other Best Time winner, before or since.

Sal’s four wins in a row prompted the Dipsea Committee to adopt a Winners Penalty, cutting the head start of winners over the previous five years. The strategy worked. Running with fewer minutes in 1986 than he had six years earlier, Vasquez only managed third place. He sat out 1987 in what some saw as a protest against the new rule.

Vasquez returned in 1988, finishing fifth, behind four women. He said after, “I never saw the women.” He skipped 1989 as well.

In 1990, with a half-mile to go, Vasquez finally caught the unlikely race-long leader, eight-year-old Megan McGowan. It was victory No. 5. McGowan would win the next year, with Vasquez fifth. He didn’t run in 1992.

In 1993, Vasquez became, at 53, the youngest runner, by seven years, ever to run a time in minutes below his age in years. Still, he finished third.

Victory No. 6 came in 1994. Less than a mile from the finish, Vasquez passed both Joe King and Bob Malain, who each started 13 minutes ahead of him.

Vasquez was third in 1995, when Dave Dunham joined Joe Ryan (1980) and Mike McManus and Tim Minor (both 1991) as the only runners ever to overtake him.

After another missed year, Vasquez returned in ’97. He ran 54:27, at age 57, passing front-runner Melody-Anne Schultz late and winning by more than a minute. Vasquez said he would take a few years off, until his penalty minutes expired. He has not returned. He doesn’t have to.

Astute Dipsea observer George Frazier says, “Sal Vasquez is the only truly great male age-group runner to have devoted himself to the Dipsea Race on a continuing basis. He single-handedly rewrote the men’s handicaps, causing 40-year-old men to start two minutes in front of the scratch runners instead of the previous five-minute head start. Sal’s record stands unparalleled.”

In 1993, Vasquez was accorded the race’s ultimate honor when he was chosen as one of five charter members of the Dipsea Hall of Fame. At 53, he was 30 years younger than any of the other inductees.