Droves of Students Attend Bay to Breakers
By Katrina Kaypaghian
Hundreds of Santa Clara students woke up at 3 a.m. to put on their wildest get-ups and hop aboard the 5:30 a.m. Caltrain to San Francisco for the annual Bay to Breakers race.
Bay to Breakers refers to the starting point near The Embarcadero, the "bay" side, and the ending point near the "breakers" of the beach.
For freshman Claire Parchem, the train ride was the best part. She describes the early-morning commute as "a party like no other, where it was super easy to be friends with everyone around you."
As for the race itself, many were worried that stricter rules compared to previous years would prevent them from participating. These regulations included pre-registration fees and a ban against large backpacks.
Many concerns sprouted from the recent Boston marathon incident. Associated Student Government President Jenna Saso even sent out a campus-wide email detailing information and offering links to the Caltrain website regarding rules and regulations about the event.
However, students reported that these rules were loosely enforced. Conductors and transit police officers did not check all fare tickets, and unregistered runners were still able to participate in the race. Police were on watch, but mostly to ensure that students weren't in danger of harming themselves.
"They didn't really care about people wearing backpacks," said sophomore attendee Nick Ferraro, "and they surely didn't enforce the rules about nudity."
Some admirable students completed the 102nd annual 7.5-mile route by taking a dip in the ocean, while others walked along the street before strolling off to local cafés for breakfast and taking the train back to Santa Clara.
Freshman Eddie Kelinsky recalls observers holding up motivational signs alongside the route, live bands playing music and residents grinning as they watched the runner from their front porches. Students came rolling back into campus in the mid to late afternoon.
Contact Katrina Kaypaghian at kkaypaghian@scu.edu.