page_title: Bay to Breakers
section_title: Participants
hierarchical_section_title: Bay to Breakers / Participants
caption_attribution_description: English: Costumed participants in Bay to Breakers 2016
context_page_description: Bay to Breakers is an annual footrace in San Francisco, California typically on the third Sunday of May. The phrase "Bay to Breakers" reflects the fact that the race starts at the northeast end of the downtown area a few blocks from The Embarcadero and runs west through the city to finish at the Great Highway. The complete course is 7.46 miles long.
  Bay to Breakers is well known for many participants wearing costumes. The 1986 edition set a Guinness Word Record for being world's largest footrace with 110,000 participants, until that was surpassed by the 2010 City2Surf event in Sydney. Attendance in 2015 was reported at roughly 50,000. That year, Zappos.com signed on as the multi-year title sponsor of Bay to Breakers; the name of the race became Zappos.com Bay to Breakers. As of 2017 the title sponsor of the race is Alaska Airlines.
context_section_description: Bay to Breakers is one of the most popular footraces in the United States. Large numbers of participants walk the route behind the runners, and many dress in costumes, while other wear nothing but shoes, thus lending a party atmosphere to the event. Participants have developed a number of unique, festive practices for the race. One festive tradition is the tortilla toss, during which crowds of runners waiting to cross the start line throw tortillas at one another to pass time (similar to balloon-batting at rock concerts).
  Other oddities are always on the scene, including traditional characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Spider-Man, as well as other unique characters spawned for the race. At least 40 pairs of Blues Brothers participated in the 1985 edition. Every year, some runners dressed as salmon run "upstream" from the breakers to the Bay.
caption: Costumes are commonly worn by race participants and party-goers
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