Busy Weekend for the 100th Dipsea

(This piece first appeared in the "Marin Independent Journal" on June 17, 2010)

What an epic weekend! From before dawn last Friday, into Sunday night, I was utterly immersed in perhaps the most important sporting event ever held in Marin, the 100th running of the Dipsea Race. Here’s how it went.

Friday, I treated myself with a sunrise edition of my favorite run, to the top of Bald Hill. It was then off to Brian Pilcher’s home in Ross, to prepare for the Tamalpa Dipsea Lunch of Champions, which I co-organized. Just before I left, Herb Stockman, the 1954 winner I only located and invited the day before, called to say the drive north would be too much. Still, 23 champions came, the most ever assembled.

The Lunch was magical, partly due to the lovely setting, but mostly from the attendees’ tales of glory days. The only glitch was the group photo. We took it early because 1960 winner Bob Hope had to leave for a tennis tournament. As Hope walked down the driveway, late-arriving Sal Vasquez walked up past him. So the photo only had 22 champions.

Without a break, wife Pam, daughter Lily and I drove to the Dipsea Foundation Dinner in Mill Valley. Again, a wonderful affair, which I could actually enjoy without worrying about everything. The highlight was Lily receiving a Foundation scholarship. Her polished speech made us even prouder. We sat with the family of another scholarship winner, Max Perrey, who I have known and admired for years. I also got to introduce the ten Dipsea Hall of Famers present.

I snuck in a short pre-dawn run on Saturday, then left for Mill Valley for the Dipsea Foundation Expo. The Foundation graciously provided me with a tent and I spent a pleasant, though long and hot, day chatting with prospective buyers of the upcoming Centennial edition of my book, “Dipsea, The Greatest Race.” At the end, I was instructed to take home the new winner’s trophy, for delivery to Stinson Beach the next morning. This is the only time that trophy will ever reside in my house!

Sunday, Dipsea morning, was so hectic I did not run at all, a first in my 29 years of announcing. I got through the early chores—such as sound system and computer setup and synching my watch—and took my place on the truck behind the finish line. What a thrill to report on the race-long battle between eight-year-old Reilly Johnson and my long-time friend Melody-Anne Schultz, 68, then to see them together on the finish straightaway. Pam kept track of the top-35, which turned out important, as timing chips worn by three black shirt winners failed to work. Lily once again keypunched the bib numbers for me to call names.

The awards ceremony is always special. I was particularly proud to have played a role in uniting the remarkably preserved 1905 Winner’s and Best Time trophies, presumably for the first time in more than a century. Reading the black shirt top-35 list is the happiest half-hour of the year. But even then work wasn’t done. I brought my measuring wheel to check a fine point for the book on course distances during the 1970s.

I usually go straight home but, needing “scoops” for the book, accepted the kind invitation of the Mace family to their traditional post-race party in Corte Madera. George Frazier kept me informed, and laughing. Finally, I went home, and watched “The Simpsons.”

**Alex Varner’s 48:54, from scratch, was the fastest anyone has run in 15 years. The splits for the ex-Branson School runner were: 1-Mile (8:15); Redwood Creek (14:55); Halfway Rock (24:30); Cardiac (33:10).

**The timing chip of 1987 champion Christie Patterson Pastalka (97th place) also failed to work, so she and husband Tomas Pastalka (38th) were not presented with the Alan Beardall Family Trophy, which they actually won.

**Defending champion Brian Pilcher, recovering from surgery, considered racing right up to Sunday morning. But Reilly’s victory gave him cause for cheer, as he was the only one picking her to win in the annual Tamalpa prediction contest.

**An issue needing to be addressed is the discrepancy in handicaps for young boys and girls. Stefan Venne, age 9, ran three minutes, 14 seconds faster than Reilly Johnson but finished only 81st because he had 13(!) fewer head start minutes.

**Seeing so many top runners in distress at the finish—a pallid Tomas Pastalka collapsing on the line, Mike Lopez crimson with blood, Patrick LePelch ghostwalking in, Robert Dickinson, owner of 19 black shirts, staggering with a medic alongside—reaffirmed my decision to continue working the Dipsea, rather than racing it.