All-Time Greatest Dipsea Runner #4

GREATEST DIPSEA RUNNERS: No. 4, JACK KIRK

(first appeared in the Marin Independent Journal, February 16, 2010

Today’s Dipsea runners remember Jack Kirk as the old man wearing pants, and a sign warning not to touch him, who they passed early in the race. The newest arrivals may only recall him in a wheelchair at the finish line. But Jack Kirk did not earn the sobriquet “Dipsea Demon” without reason. He won the race twice, captured two Best Time trophies, finished 32 times among the top-35 (a total surpassed only by Darryl Beardall), and completely rewrote records on longevity and durability. Jack Kirk stands No. 4 on our list of all-time greatest Dipsea runners.

Kirk, who raced John Muir’s grandson in high school, ran his first Dipsea in 1930 at age 23. His time of 51 minutes, 38 seconds missed Best Time honors by just three seconds and, with his head start of 4-1/2 minutes, he finished second overall to William Magner. Ironically, it was Magner’s longevity record—63 years from first Dipsea to last—that Kirk would one day shatter. Ninth-place finisher Neal Decker dubbed Kirk “a demon” for passing so quickly on the steepest downhills, and the name stuck.

In 1931, Kirk actually refused his 30-second handicap so he could go head-to-head with scratch (no handicap) runner William Fraser, who nipped him for Time honors the year before. Kirk prevailed, his 50:54 swiftest of the day, 30 seconds up on Fraser.

Due to the Depression, no Dipseas were held in 1932-33 though Kirk offered the few dollars needed to keep it going. Kirk’s next great Dipsea was 1936, when he ran the second fastest actual time and finished second overall. In 1940, he again won Best Time honors, and was again second finisher.

With the military closing roads on Mt. Tamalpais, the Dipsea was not contested from 1942-45. This saved Kirk’s consecutive Dipsea streak while he served in the Army. Kirk came back with top-10 finishes in 1946, ’47, and ’49, but the feeling was that his chances of ever winning had now passed.

So it was particularly sweet when, in 1951, Kirk did become, at age 44, the oldest winner yet. Kirk was awarded the same four-minute head start as Lee Gentili, runner-up at Cross City (Bay to Breakers) earlier in the year. The two waged a race-long duel, Kirk prevailing by ten seconds. His 57:10 was second fastest of anyone.

Winning meant punishment in head start and in 1952, Kirk raced, at age 45, with just a single handicap minute. He was still at only six minutes in 1961, when all other of the still rare over-50 entrants invariably got the maximum possible handicap.

Kirk finally caught a break in 1961, when he was suddenly awarded 15 head start minutes and finished fourth. But 15 minutes was then the maximum, so, once more, victory prospects appeared gone.

Kirk proved naysayers wrong in 1967. Taking advantage of bizarre handicapping—nine of the first 10, and 83 of the first 100, finishers started scratch—Kirk parlayed his 15 minutes into win No. 2. It was tight, just five seconds ahead of fast-closing Bob Bunnell.

A year later, Kirk became the first in 50 years to “run his age,” a time in minutes (61) matching his age. He finished third, Don Pickett winning. Kirk pulled out magic again in 1970, when he ran under his age (62 minutes at age 63), but so too did the winner, Norman Bright. Kirk came in sixth, his last top-10 finish. Still, he long remained competitive, for example 57^th in 1974 when, at 67, he again ran his age.

Kirk now entered the second phase of his Dipsea career, during which he extended boundaries of what aging athletes could achieve. In 1977, he became the rugged race’s second 70-year-old finisher, then its first over-80, and still the only over-90. In 1993, Kirk was selected as a charter member of the Dipsea Race Hall of Fame. In 1997, his 62^nd consecutive Dipsea surpassed the American, and perhaps world, record for consecutive race finishes, Johnny Kelley’s 61 at the Boston Marathon. Kirk broke the record in style, running 98 minutes faster than the year before. In 2002, Kirk, at 95, finished his 67^th straight Dipsea, and was awarded the Norman Bright Trophy. He inspired countless others. Amby Burfoot, who, this June, intends to become the first Boston Marathon winner (1968) ever to race the Dipsea, says, “I consider Jack Kirk my hero for life.”

Kirk’s unparalleled Dipsea career ended a year later. He started, fell a couple of times, and reached Cardiac well after the official cutoff. Not wanting to break any rules, or hold up Highway Patrol motorcyclists waiting to escort him on Highway 1, Kirk abandoned. He died January 29, 2007, three months after celebrating his 100^th birthday. A huge crowd climbed the Dipsea steps at dusk for a candlelight ceremony. The topmost step bears the name of Jack Kirk, the man who said, “Old Dipsea Runners Never Die, They Just Reach the 672^nd Step.”