GREATEST DIPSEA PERFORMANCES

This story by Barry Spitz first appeared in the Marin Independent Journal of June 10, 2001.

Today is Dipsea Day, a good time to look back at the greatest individual efforts our fabled race has ever produced. (Actually, I'll limit myself to the last 50 years.) So here are my picks, in reverse order. All but one, Elijah's, produced wins.

10. Mary Etta Boitano, 1973. Ten-year-old Mary Etta Boitano, all of 60 pounds, ran what was then the fastest time ever by a woman, 58:43, to win the 1973 race. She became the first female to win the Dipsea.

9. Bob Hope, 1960. Hope's 47:41 at age 18 remains the fastest by a high schooler (Tamalpais High). It was then the second fastest Dipsea ever, behind only Norman Bright's 47:22 from 1937. And Hope won by a remarkable 5:27, the second biggest margin ever.

8. Homer Latimer, 1976. More than 2,000 runners started the wild '76 Dipsea, then still run in just one section. Latimer fell several times, shoved many and was often pushed himself, and arrived bloody at Stinson. Yet he recorded a 50:03, second best of the day, to win. The severe overcrowding on the trail prompted Dipsea officials to limit entries, and split them into separate starting sections, in all years since.

7. Ralph Perry, 1953. For the first 60 years of the Dipsea, handicaps were individually assigned, based on a runner's ability and, until Perry, only one runner had ever won by more than three minutes (3:27). So Mill Valley's 17-year-old Perry clearly had an extraordinary effort when he ran 55:03 to win the 1953 race by nearly seven minutes (6:56). It remains the biggest victory margin.

6. Joe King, 1995. The record for oldest Dipsea winner was long shared by the race's two most legendary competitors, Jack Kirk and Norman Bright, at 60. In 1995, King, who first raced the Dipsea in 1947, won at age 69. Further, his time of 66:03 was an unprecedented three minutes under his age.

5. MelodyAnne Schultz, 1999. High among breakthroughs by women since they were first officially admitted in 1971 was Schultz' stunning 1:01:51 at age 57. She won by 5:24, by far the most in the modern era of assigning head starts by age and sex. And Schultz came closest to what had been considered impossible, a woman running a time in minutes equal to her age in years.

4. Sal Vasquez, 1984. Until 1984, no one had won the Dipsea more than twice. That year, Patricia English had an 11-minute head start--open women now only get eight--and blazed a brilliant 56:38, five minutes under the existing women's course record. By all measures, she should have won easily. Spectators told Vasquez, who started seven minutes behind English, that there is no way he can catch Pat. Yet somehow he did, winning the third of what are now seven titles. Vasquez' 49:18, at age 44, was just two seconds off the day's best (by Rod Berry), and remains his personal best.

3. Ron Elijah, 1974. Had it produced victory (he finished third), Elijah's otherworldly 44:49 in '74 would have rated my #1 pick. Other than Elijah's own 46:08 (1971), the next fastest Dipsea crossing ever is 46:42. Most runners today would be thrilled just to reach Cardiac in 44:49! Further, Elijah started scratch (no head start), having to pass more than 1,000 runners in a race still not divided into sections.

2. Megan McGowan, 1992. McGowan astonished all by winning the 1991 Dipsea at age nine. But a repeat appeared impossible. For one, she lost a whopping four head start minutes, a fate no one else has suffered in decades. Worse, McGowan was pitted against some of the world's finest age group runners in Shirley Matson, Jim Bowers, Joan Ottaway, and Eve Pell, plus open champ Mike McManus in his prime. McGowan responded by cutting seven minutes from her 1991 time to triumph by more than a minute. Indeed, her 58:09 was the day's fastest for women of any age, by a 10-year-old.

1. Norman Bright, 1970. In 1937, Bright, one of the nation's top runners, broke the Dipsea's 25-year-old course record, but finished second. Thirty-three years later, his '37 course record still standing, Bright returned. But he was now 60 and his eyesight was failing; he would soon be totally blind. Bright prepared meticulously, even befriending a guard dog blocking the old Windy Gap shortcut. He ran 59:46. still the fastest ever by anyone over age 60, and won by 16 seconds. Today, the trophy for "Extraordinary Effort in the Dipsea" is named the "Norman Bright Trophy."