As many San Francisco natives know, the famous Bay to Breakers race was held recently and attracted thousands of people from around the world. What many don’t know is that there is a lot more to this annual footrace than people dressing in interesting costumes that highlights the true spirit of San Franciscans.

The race is 7.46 miles and goes from the Embarcadero near The Bay to the breakers of Ocean Beach. This year I discovered something interesting on the Bay to Breakers website under a small section labeled “history”. I was completely stunned by what I read.

Aside from being a fun, city-wide event, Bay to Breakers was originally a way to lift the spirits of the citizens of San Francisco after the earthquake of 1906. Each year the race grew in popularity and eventually a runner set a world record and the race gained a lot of recognition.

I wondered why I hadn’t known all these interesting facts about the Bay to Breakers before, especially being from San Francisco. This got me thinking about how many people really don’t know much about the history of Bay to Breakers. As citizens of San Francisco I feel it is important that we know the history of the race.

I ran the Bay to Breakers once, but I never knew much about its history. I interviewed three time Bay to Breakers runner Kieran Byrne to see how much he knew about the race.

“I don’t know a whole lot about the history but I think it is about 103 years old,” he said.. “Also it is the largest footrace in the world.”  I asked him if he thought it was important for the citizens of San Francisco to know at least some of the history of Bay to Breakers. He responded, “Yes of course, Bay to Breakers is an important tradition in San Francisco as well as an important event in the history of our city”.

Given Byrne’s words and my own curiosity,  I did more research and learned that more than 110,000 people participate in Bay to Breakers each year. It’s no wonder the Guinness Book of World Records named Bay to Breakers the world’s largest footrace in 1986.

In all, Bay to Breakers is an important part of San Francisco history, culture, and tradition. “The race is still a quintessential San Francisco experience and a true reflection of life between the breakers and the bay,” according to the website. I completely agree and so would anyone who has witnessed or participated in the Bay to Breakers.