Barry Spitz
Monday, June 2, 2014
1964 Dipsea
FIFTY YEARS AGO, THE 1964 DIPSEA
by Barry Spitz
(first appeared in the Marin Independent Journal of June 2, 2014
The 1964 Dipsea--fifty years ago—was a
watershed, in many ways both the end of the race’s historic era and the start
of its modern one. The record high for number of finishers, set in 1920, was
shattered by 40 percent and the Dipsea began a period of enormous popularity continuing
today. After a long gap, a woman, Donna Thurlby, ran the full race. Women would
run every subsequent year and be admitted as official entrants in 1971. The
finish line, on Shoreline Highway in central Stinson Beach every year but one
since 1907, was moved nearer the beach and has never returned. And an entry
fee, 50 cents then, $75 now, was inaugurated. But, most significantly, 1964 marked
the last year head starts were individually assigned, leading to what remains
the biggest change ever in a race founded in 1905.
In
the Dipsea’s first five decades, the distance running community was relatively
small and tight-knit with only a few major races. So a presumably neutral
official could assign, reasonably accurately, a fair head start for each
entrant. Thus, every runner, save a handful who knew that even the maximum head
start allowed was not enough, felt they had a chance to win, and that their
chance was equal to every one else’s.
Then,
in 1963, President Kennedy issued his national fitness challenge and Oregon
coach Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike) published “A Jogger’s Manual,” igniting
the running boom. Entries for the 1964 Dipsea skyrocketed and 169 finished.
Many
of the newcomers were young, without any race record. The handicapper,
underestimating the abilities of talented high schoolers unafraid of the
treacherous Dipsea Trail, gave many of them oversized head starts. Teenagers swept
the top nine places, all in clock times (actual time less head start) under the
course record, with Tamalpais High’s Gregg Sparks winning. Bill Morgan, who
would win Bay to Breakers the following year in record time, ran the then
second fastest Dipsea ever, 47:29, but only got tenth place.
Veteran
Marin teacher and coach Dave Barni, who ran his first Dipsea in 1964 as a San
Rafael High junior, says, “I got three head start minutes but Mark Falcone, my
high school teammate who always finished one place ahead or behind me at meets,
got seven minutes. Gregg Sparks, who went on to the State (track) Meet, got
eleven. (Today, by contrast, Sparks, at 17, would get only two minutes.) To
this day, I don’t know how or why it happened.”
Keith
Krieger, then a county mile and cross-country champion at Tam, ran the ’64
Dipsea with no head start because he signed up race morning. Entered again this
year, Krieger says, “The handicapping was a joke then. It’s so much better
now.”
“The handicap system was always a puzzle
to me,” says San Rafael’s Bill Ferlatte. “It was apparently based on your best
Dipsea time, best mile time and which way the wind was blowing. One thing that
was nearly certain though; if you won or ran one of the fastest times, you
could count on starting from scratch the following year.” That happened to
Ferlatte, who was second in 1963 and 44th in ’64.
The
need for change was clear. So, in 1965, head starts were assigned solely on age
(and, from 1971, on gender). With the new system, no longer did everyone feel
that, with a great day, they might win. Now only the very best in their age
group had any chance of crossing first and picking the Dipsea winner became
easier. Also, the old practice of slashing winners’ head starts meant there
were no back-to-back champions ever through 1964. Under the new system, there
have been six, and Sal Vasquez won four in a row.
Jim
Weil, the MIT graduate who introduced a rigorous statistical approach when he
took over the handicapping job in the 1970s (he still holds it), notes another
alteration. “The change in 1965,” he says, “also meant the end of
sandbagging, by which good Dipsea runners intentionally ran poorly for a few
years, saw their head start minutes rise to reflect their apparent decline,
then ran to the best of their abilities in a one-time attempt at winning the
race.”
Fifty
years later, one thing remains constant. Everyone, except the winner, will
grumble about the handicapping.
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