The San Francisco call., 1910-09-17
AMATEURS AWAIT
Big DIPSEA RACE
Annual Cross Country Run i'm
Harm County Tomorrow Is
Years Big Event
By HERBERT HAUSER

The most popular event of the year
in amateur athletic circles, the Dipsea
race, is carded for tomorrow. This re-
markable event. the most difficult and
trying contest in which the local ath-
letes participate. gains in favor from
year to year and with a few excep-
tions nearly all those who have taken
part in the past will again face Starter
John Elliott tomorrow. There is a GER
tain fascination attached to the event
that never seems to die out. Five
years ago when the local athletic spirit
was at a. low ebb a band of Olympic
club members held weekly walks from
Mill valley to the Dipsea inn, few
miles below Bolinas. AL ConeY, Tim
Fitzpatrick, Matt Harris, Charlie Boas,
Robert Macarthur, Charles Arata Luke
Flynn, Or. l.. J. Mcmahon and a number
of others were the leaders and it was
during one of their hikes that Coney
and Boas had a dispute as to which
one could make the best time over the
course and as a result a race was ar
ranged.
The match caused considerable talk
among Ghe crowd, the members of
which had dubbed themselves the Dip
sea Indians and they decided to hold
an open race under sanction of the
Pacific athletic association. This event
was held on Sunday, November 10, 1906,
about 80 entries participating in
course estimated at nine miles. 1t was
much more difficult than the present
race, as the last two miles were run
along the beach. from Willow camp to
Dipsea. Many bets were made that the
runners could not negotiate the dis
tance under an hour and half
HISTORY OF THE RACE
Godfrey Hassard of the Oakland high
school and Century athletic club, start
ing with the limit handicap, was never
headed, and in spite of the fact that
the race was run in quite a rainstorm,
covered the course in l hour IL min
utes and As seconds, while Con Con-
molly, the Irish runner captured first
time prize in ] hour 1 minutes and 90
seconds, thus upsetting the calcula-
tions of the speediest members of the
Indians.
The following year Hassard. run
ming under the Century athletic club
colors, started on the minute mark
and not only won first place. but first
time prize as well, over course that
had been cut down to seven and a
fourth miles and he established the
record Of 49 minutes SIS seconds, which
has not been equaled since.
William Joyner of the Siaplamat In
dians won the coveted first place prize
in the third race and Otto Boeddiker of
the Olympic club secured the time prize
in 5S minutes 35 seconds. In the last
two races Boeddiker repeated his first
performance and each time secured the
time prize, his last years record of
:51:56 being best. George Behrman of
the Siaplamat Indians won the fourth
race and last year Basil Spur, from
the same club, was the winner. cover
ing the course in 55 minutes.
Since 1907 the race has been finished
in front of the store at Willow Camp.
doing away with the difficult trim
through the soft sand to the beach.
Last year there were 157 entries and
112 starters, and 100 are entered for
tomorrow.
B0EDDIkER TO RUN
Boeddiker, the scratch man. met with
a misfortune about a month ago. break
ing his hand-while at work, but he is
nevertheless going to run, much
against the advice of his friends. who
fear he will not be able to do himself
justice. William Howden. running
under Olympic colors from the 80 sec
ond mark, is looked upon as a favorite'
for the time prize. but James McGee