Dipity
2007: Karim El Mabchour passed the finish line as the winner of the 35th annual Wharf to Wharf, arms spread like a plane coming in for landing, running 6 miles in 27 minutes, 53 seconds and making ...
2006: Racing in one of the strongest fields in Wharf to Wharf history, Ridouane Harroufi of Morocco beat Kenyan Julian Kiptoo to the finish by one second. Harroufi, the Wharf to Wharf’s first Moroc...
2005: In another sprint down the hill to the finish, Kenyan Wilson Kigen beat countryman Julius Kiptoo to the tape. It was a bit of redemption for Kigen, who was beat at the tape the previous year....
2004: It was called the closest finish in Wharf to Wharf history. Shadrack Kosgei and Kigen finished stride-for-stride down Capitola’s hill and across the tape. After some discussion, officials gav...
2003: Patrick Nthiwa, from Kenya, won the title with a time of 27:35, holding off John Gwako, who finished second for the third consecutive year. Nthiwa pulled away at the 4-mile mark and then held...
2002: Evans Rutto, of Nairobi, Kenya, successfully defended his Wharf to Wharf title, finishing in 27:38. He broke away from countrymen John Gwako and Patrick Nthiwa in the final half mile of the 6...
2001: Evans Rutto, a 23-year-old Wharf to Wharf rookie from Nairobi, Kenya, posted the third-fastest time since the race was set at six miles in 1987. He topped fellow Kenyan and two-time champion ...
2000: Kenyans dominated the race for the fourth year in a row. John Gwako, the 1998 winner, broke the tape in 27:55 for the win. He was followed by Kenya’s James Bungei (28:39), the 1997 champion, ...
In this photo, Kenyan Philip Kurui sprints to victory on the fina yards of the Wharf to Wharf race as countryman, and 1997 winner, James Bungei, left, can only watch. William Kiptum, center, edges ...
1998: In one of the most exciting finishes in Wharf to Wharf history, two Kenyans, William Kiptum and Gwako, sprinted to the finish line with Gwako edging his countryman by a few inches. Both finis...
1997: This was once again the year of the Kenyans in the men’s division. James Bungei pulled from a pack of his countrymen and two game finishers from Albuquerque, N.M., to win by six seconds. The ...
In this clipping, 14,000 runners cluster at the starting line. 1996: The biggest news of the 24th race, at least from a local angle, was the record tying third Wharf to Wharf win in the women’s ...
1995: Two former men’s champions bowed out a week before the race, allowing unheralded Danny Gonzalez to win the race in 29:55, a new record due to another in a series of course modifications. Gonz...
1994: A course alteration — thanks to erosion along East Cliff Drive — and the absence of defending champions set the stage for a little-known Australian to steal the spotlight. In his first visit ...
1993: This year’s Wharf to Wharf Race proved to have somewhat of a fairytale atmosphere with veteran competitor Alan Dehlinger finally winning the race and Barb Acosta of Santa Cruz taking third in...
1992: Lameck Aguta, in only his second race on U.S. soil, was the top finisher and the first to receive the cash prize of $5,000 in the first year of prize money. He led a Kenyan sweep of the top s...
1991: With 3½ miles of the race completed, Brian Abshire took back the lead and kept it as he won with a course record 27:30, earning his second Wharf to Wharf title. Runner up Ivan Huff was 32 sec...
1990: In his longest race of the summer, Puerto Rico native Carmelo Rios sprinted away from the field to win the Wharf to Wharf. Off to an early lead, Rios took a sizable 10-second lead at the four...
1989: With ¾ of a mile left, Brian Abshire pulled away from runner-up Alan Dehlinger, who made the finish of the 17th Wharf to Wharf an exciting one. The duel began at the two mile mark as Abshire ...
1988: The 16th Annual race brought more than just winners to the finish line. This year was the first year of an advance sellout, holding at 12,000 entries. Men’s winner Matt Clayton, who was unfam...
1987: Running on a new six-mile course, Jay Marden beat runner-up Steve Bishop by a step. The final times showed Marden’s time at 0.4 of a second faster than Bishop. The last two miles were a two-m...
1986: Ashley Johnson broke from a tight six-man pack of world-class runners and won in 26:05. The winning time was fast enough to break 1985 winner Steve Ortiz’s course-record of 26:11. Johnson too...
1985: Steve Ortiz predicted he would win in record time and was correct. Ortiz, a former UCLA standout, won in 26:11 over 5.813 miles, ahead of a field of 8,000. The previous record was 26:23, set ...
In this photo, winner Armando Siqueiros, right, talks with Gary Kerr, who received a two-block head start and was the first person across the finish line. 1984: In his first Wharf to Wharf, Arma...
1983: Dan Grimes was the official winner of the 11th running of the Wharf to Wharf. Ivan Huff, a member of the Aggies track club, crossed the finish line first, but he was disqualified because he r...
1982: Dan Gruber of Aptos became only the second county winner of the Wharf to Wharf. He crossed the finish line in 26:57. In the months before the 10th running, Gruber, a former Aptos High and San...
1981: In his second Wharf to Wharf race, Duncan MacDonald set a course record of 26:23. MacDonald, a former Stanford star, was a one-time American record-holder in the 5,000 meters and competed in ...
1980: John Moreno, in his fourth race, got into a groove three miles into the race and was uncatchable, winning in 27:22, breaking Mike Pinocci’s 1978 mark by 15 seconds. Michele Aubuchon, who cam...
1979: It was Duncan MacDonald’s first of two Wharf to Wharf victories. The field of runners continued to grow, as 2,300 joined the challenge. Sue Munday came into the race as the only two-time wom...
1978: Mike Pinocci beat Duncan MacDonald, only two years removed from an Olympic appearance, to win. Sue Munday won her second Wharf to Wharf, which placed her in exclusive company as the first wo...
1977: The men’s winner, Benton Hart, took 24 seconds off Hans Templeman’s two-year old record with a time of 27:48 on the 5.8-mile course among 1,000 runners. Santa Cruz High’s Terry Schneider, wh...
1976: Mitch Kingery, at the age of 19, won the men’s division with a winning time of 28:27. The women’s winner was Sue Munday of San Jose, but there is no record of her time.
In this clip, runners from the 1975 race get going and let their hands fly, finally making it to the finish. 1975: Hans Templeman won with a time of 28:12 despite fierce competition with inaugur...
In this clip, Mark McConnell is noted as the winner from a field of 493 participants. 1974: Former Soquel High standout and Stanford runner Mark McConnell won the men’s division. McConnell avera...
1973: For the first Wharf to Wharf race, the 276 entrants paid a $1 entry fee to compete in what has become a Santa Cruz County tradition. Jack Bellah won the race, which began as a road race to he...
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