My Marin Independent Journal Article of 12/16/10

There are some things in Marin that remain mysteries no matter how extensive the research. Just where did Francis Drake land in 1579? What is the origin of the name “Tamalpais”? Why does Highway 101 back up exactly the same no matter how many lanes are added? Add to the list: What is the length of the Dipsea Race? For while we can compute the value of pi to 50 billion decimal places, unravel the genetic code, and split atoms, somehow the distance between Mill Valley and Stinson Beach remains unknowable. (So apparently too is the number of Dipsea steps in Mill Valley, but that’s another story.) Every measuring crew—and there have been plenty over the decades—returns with a different answer.

It is a tricky business. Countless curves bedevil the steel tape approach, as Mark Reese used in his meticulous 1979 effort. Roots and rocks and steps challenge a measuring wheel. The Dipsea Committee employed the latest GPS technology in their measurement last year prior to the new stone mile marker project, but deep forest cover plays havoc with satellite transmission. And, with all the potential shortcuts, just what is the Dipsea course?

With these challenges in mind, the self-proclaimed Great Dipsea Survey of 2010 set off with TWO surveyor’s wheels to get the latest answer. The team consisted of Russ Kiernan, Don Makela, Brad Rippe, Roy Rivers, Darren Walton, and this writer, with four winner’s trophies, a course record, and thousands of Dipsea crossings between them.

The attempt was certainly painstaking. A wheel was ever so slowly rolled atop the narrow banister of the Mill Valley steps. The crew delicately balanced on a log while crossing Redwood Creek. The locked fence before the final left turn to the finish had to be scaled. Makela meticulously recorded the feet between every landmark.

And the results? The “consensus” course, the one marked with ribbons on Race day, measured 7.44 miles. This was quite close to the 7.51 miles reached by the Dipsea Committee, with both results substantially longer than the 7.1 miles previously accepted. The “competitive” course, using the three major and commonly used shortcuts of Suicide, the Swoop, and Panoramic Highway, measured out at 7.12 miles. In comparison, Reese ascertained the 1979 course was 6.87 miles. For the record, the distance from the first of the Mill Valley steps to the topmost is 1,411 feet, making it surely the slowest quarter-mile in all racing.

One upshot of the new longer distance results is a rekindling of the debate over just which is the truly fastest Dipsea crossing ever; Ron Elijah’s forty-four minutes, forty-nine seconds from 1974 in the no-course-restrictions era, or Rod Berry’s 46:48 from 1981 when the route was clearly longer, or Mike McManus’s 47:18 in 1991 when it was longer still. Such debates sustain Dipsea runners through the cold, rainy days of December.

WILLIAM PATTERSON’S LAST DIPSEA

A heartwarming story emerged regarding the Dipsea and the late William Patterson. The Ross resident had lost his Invitational status and the Dipsea Committee was ready to relegate him to the Runner section in 2010, if they were to let him at all. Patterson, too modest, did not mention why he had slowed: He was battling cancer of the brain. But when someone else called the matter to the Committee’s attention, they unhesitatingly granted him a place in Invitational. And Patterson fulfilled a dream by crossing the line 99th, wearing the happiest of smiles. Less than two months later, the cancer took his life, at age 48. Patterson was a father of three and driving force behind the recent renovation of the California Academy of Science, of which he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees. San Anselmo’s Linda Gill, a friend of Patterson, said, “Running the Dipsea again meant a lot to Bill. He had a copy of the Dipsea history book on his nightstand when he died.”

MUDDY QUAD

Heavy rain before the race, and showers on race day, left the course muddy and slippery at the 28th annual Quadruple Dipsea on November 26. Only 201 runners finished the brutal course, with its 9,200 feet each of steep ups and downs, fewest in six years.

Winner Leor Pantilat went out in record pace, astonishingly completing the opening two legs in under one hour, 48 minutes. He picks ups the story: “Sliding in the mud was beginning to take its toll and I became tired climbing the stairs out of Steep Ravine. I still had a chance at the record at the top of Cardiac, but alas, the trail conditions were not in my favor for a sudden acceleration… Approaching the steep section along Dynamite heading into Muir Woods I took one of several falls, but this wipeout caused some painful cramping that hindered my ability to run up the final climb up to Windy Gap. An extremely generous participant kindly handed me a couple salt tablets that definitely helped keep the cramping at bay.”

Pantilat’s final time of 3:54:29 was 2:13 short of Erik Skaggs’s Quad record. But he was still eight minutes clear of runner-up Gary Gellin. Mark McManus of Mill Valley, fourth, was top Marin finisher.

Women’s winner Caren Spore also went out at record pace, and held it. Her 4:38:33—good for fifth place overall--eclipsed Beth Vitalis’s modern record by 36 seconds. The fastest Quad ever by a woman was 4:32:16 by Kathy D’Onofrio in 1987, when shortcuts—all now strictly banned—were still permitted.

Novato’s Larry Castano finished his 25th consecutive Quad. Three years ago, doctors informed Castano he was breathing through only one lung, the other having permanently collapsed.

100^TH BAY TO BREAKERS

Another venerable Bay Area race, Bay to Breakers, celebrates its 100th running, all consecutive, this May 15. Only three men—Oliver Millard, Norman Bright and Jim Shettler—and one woman—Mary Etta Boitano—have ever won both races, none in the same year and none now for decades. Given the divergent approaches of the two races, with Bay to Breakers luring international class Kenyans and others with a $40,000 prize purse, and the Dipsea offering only a trophy, black shirt and a high probability of injury, there will not likely be more joint winners any time soon.

Bay to Breakers and the Dipsea will be tied at 100 runnings for exactly four weeks, until Dipsea #101 on June 12, 2011.