The Pier to Peak half marathon is not your average weekend road race. Not by a long shot.
Those who enter the annual Labor Day weekend event probably have a masochistic side to their personality. Starting at 6:30 a.m. Sunday at the dolphin fountain, where State Street meets Stearns Wharf, the race course takes runners on an elevation gain of nearly 4,000 feet to the finish line at Lookout Park on top of La Cumbre Peak.
The torturous climb up the long and winding Gibralter Road will take runners through areas scorched by the Jesusita Fire.
With hot weather in the forecast, the run up Gibralter and along East Camino Cielo could pose a serious health threat.
Race director Jake Clinton said he and his staff are prepared for the conditions and will keep a close watch on the runners.
“Weather is always a concern to me,” said Clinton in an e-mail. “I have seen it hot on State Street and gone up to check or measure the course and just about froze (at La Cumbre Peak). There always seems to be an inversion … the cooler at the start the hotter at the finish, and sometimes it is just hot. I have got more water than usual and extra supplies are being arranged.”
Clinton said he’ll have monitors driving along the course to check on the welfare of the runners.
“The Santa Barbara Ham Radio Club will be out in force.” he said. “(We’ll have) radio communications throughout the city, at water stations and locations to be determined, depending on the number of ham radio operators that are in the field on Sunday.”
In his address to the runners at the starting line, Clinton said he’ll stress that they make use of the water stations.
“… Drink the water we provide and please do not dump it over your heads, that is just a waste of resources. The water has to go into your system, not on your cloths.”
Finally, he’ll tell the runners to “enjoy the views and the experience. This event is not the normal half marathon. Pier to Peak is an endurance event.”
As for top competitors entered, Clinton said Eric Forte, the 2007 overall winner (1 hour, 40 minutes, .03 seconds), is running along with women’s defending champion Sara Dillman (1:47.20) and perennial contender Melissa Marsted.
Defending overall champion and three-timer winner Aaron Gillen had not entered as of Friday morning. Gillen won last year’s race in 1:33.04.
