The 99th ING Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco today was “relatively peaceful” and produced not only a back-to-back winner but also a new woman’s world record, according to police and race officials.
Sammy Kipwara, 23, of Kenya, came in first in the race for the second year in a row, crossing the finish line after 34 minutes 15 seconds, race spokeswoman Courtney Lodato said.
Second place for the men went to Peter Kirui, 22, also from Kenya, who completed the race a millisecond behind Kipwara, according to Lodato.
Tilahun Regassa, 20, from Ethiopia, was the third man to finish the race in 35 minutes 30 seconds.
The women’s winner was Lineth Chepkurui, 22, from Kenya, coming in at 38 minutes 7 seconds–the fastest a woman has ever run the race, Lodato said.
Second place for the women was Emily Chebet, 24, from Kenya, who ran the race in 38 minutes 41 seconds.
The third place women’s runner was Mamitu Daska, 26, from Ethiopia. She finished the race in 39 minutes 34 seconds.
Kipwara earned $25,000 for winning the race, as well as an additional $5,000 for being the first man to top the Hayes Street hill. Chebet was the first woman to make it over the Hayes Street hill and also won $5,000.
Lodato said the chilly today weather helped the contestants who chose to run, but that the rest of the participants and staff spent the day cold.
“It’s great running weather for professionals,” Lodato said. “For the staff, not so much,” she added, laughing.
San Francisco police Officer Samson Chan said the race was calm and yielded just a handful of arrests for public drunkenness.
There were a number of medical calls for both the racers who became injured while running, and for participants who had drank excessive amounts of alcohol, according to Chan.
One person collapsed near the finish line and needed to have CPR administered, and was then taken to San Francisco General Hospital. Chan did not know that person’s condition this afternoon.
