Wharf to Wharf By Efren Martinez
Although not impossible for a fellow in his mid 40’s to place in the top 100 male runners at The Wharf to Wharf race in Santa Cruz, California, it’s doable. All you have to do is hold a 5:55 minute mile if you’re a man and a 7:11 minute mile if you’re a woman for the entire run. Running at that pace for the beautiful and hilly 6-mile race would have put you just at the hundredth spot in the top 100th runners in each sex division according to this year’s results.
If running is your preferred choice for fitness, this would be another proud feather to add on your racing hat. This year’s Wharf to Wharf increased it’s registration participants to 16,000 to accommodate a larger worldwide pool of some of the fastest runners and walkers. The race started at 8:30am sharp and by the time the first runner had crossed the finish line in Capitola, there were still 10,000 runners waiting to cross the start line back in Santa Cruz.
According to the race director, this year’s race went off without a hitch and they had fewer race bandits (unregistered runners) from previous years. The Wharf to Wharf sold out in a record time of 19 hours. Caroline Rotich from Kenya broke the women’s course record with a finish time of 30:18 for the female win. The overall win was also taken by Mr. Simon Ndirangu, a 26 year old, also from Kenya with a finish time of 27:34.
Although it was a bit on the warmer side for me compared to last year, I still had a blast racing with the elite runners as I held on with them for a while at a 6:22 minute mile at mile 2. Then, they did what most pros do at that point; they served me my running shorts and blew me away. My end results were a great time running the race and seeing so many folks from Modesto. Like me, we proudly sported our Shadowchase running club shirts or our Surgical Artistry Modesto Marathon jerseys.
For more information on The Wharf to Wharf and other results please visit www.wharftowharf.com<http://www.wharftowharf.com/> Efren J Martinez
