Bay to Breakers 2007: Article from SF Chronicle

(05-20) 14:28 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- As the Bay to Breakers road race got started this morning, a man wearing only running shoes was cited for indecent exposure, but - this being the Bay to Breakers -- it wasn't a real citation.

Deborah Esenarro, a 42-year-old from Reno dressed as Lt. Jim Dangle from the Comedy Central show "Reno 911!" had issued it.

"I've requested backup," announced her friend, Brian Bledsoe, 33, also dressed as Lt. Dangle and also issuing tickets -- for such infractions as "copping a feel" and "feeling a cop."

"What's indecent about it?" asked the naked man.

It was an emblematic encounter in San Francisco's 96th annual rite of spring, a 7.46-mile jaunt from the Embarcadero to the Ocean Beach that was graced by sunshine as well as rock stars, brides, pregnant men and Scrabble pieces that formed words upon request.

Amid the jubilant atmosphere, tragedy struck when one runner collapsed at the finish line just after 9 a.m. and died, race officials and the San Francisco medical examiner's office said. No further details about the man or the cause of his death were available.

Race officials said 35,000 people paid $39 to $49 to register for the race, while some 25,000 crashed the party to run or walk a course that was lined with thousands of others, including wide-eyed, photograph-snapping tourists.

"Fantastic. Lovely, actually," said Tony Toriello, an Italian resident of England vacationing in San Francisco with his wife and two children. "We always see Americans on television -- the Steve McQueen, the Michael Douglas. Now we see the real people on the street."

Some participants were motivated to run fast and others were motivated to drink beer in imaginative ways -- such as while doing a handstand over a keg in a shopping cart on the corner of Howard and Fifth streets, or by sucking on tubes connected to a pair of 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor connected to a helmet

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There were also world-class runners. They dressed as runners.

Edna Kiplagat, 27, finished ahead of two other Kenyans in 38 minutes and 55 seconds to lead the women's field. Her countryman John Korir, 31, was the top man, with a time of 34 minutes and 44 seconds.

As they finished, the event was just beginning for thousands of others at the starting line at Howard and Main streets.

Less concerned about posting solid times were two men just out of the shower (complete with towels, bed-head and faces full of shaving cream), an impressive spaghetti and meatballs, a man dressed all in brown who said he was dog poop and too many red-and-white-wearing Pamplona bull-dodgers to count

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There was a corps of Imperial stormtroopers in full plastic armor that made running no easy chore and a fan club for "American Idol" contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

Steve Larson, a 42-year-old San Franciscan, played a pushy Transportation Security Administration airport baggage screener to a tee.

"Folks, I need a single file line," Larson shouted. "Please take off your shoes and put your valuables in the container. Ladies, I will wand you."

Dozens of salmon soon passed by, swimming upstream. In what has become a Bay to Breakers classic, the fish started at the top of the Hayes Street hill -- about midway through the course -- then headed to the starting line, after making sure the competitive runners had gone through.

"Spawn, spawn, spawn!" cried Laura Mazzili, a 36-year-old San Franciscan portraying a salmon for the third year. "It's a beautiful day for a spawn."

Even more decidedly against the current was a group of real-life street preachers holding giant signs that quoted scripture and warned sinners about the approach of judgment day. Philip Johnson of Washington state said he was part of a "loose network brought together by the common passion of street preaching." He was upbeat despite receiving a steady stream of ridicule.

"Jesus turned my water into wine, baby," one jogger shouted while gripping a plastic cup.

Alcohol and nudity were officially prohibited, but there was quite a lot of alcohol and nudity. Rocky Angel, a 40-year-old artist from Oakland wearing only shoes, face paint and his registration number, said he was marking a decade in the buff.

"It's a chance," Angel said, "that doesn't come up often enough."

A few blocks behind was a group with an even more radical message. They called themselves CANKLE, or Citizens Against Needless Kinetic-Led Energy, and advocated walking over running.

"Slow down!" shouted Casey Strack, a 26-year-old city resident. The signs he and his friends held read "Your running does not impress me," "Bring our runners home" and "What's the rush?"

One of their signs compared lists of walkers and runners. Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa? Walkers. Among the runners: the aforementioned Sanjaya, the avian flu and Hillary Clinton.

"She's running," said Strack.

E-mail Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.