The aging, ailing SPARTANS decided to rest up and skip the Tamalpa race, but I made a late decision to run, assuming it might well be my last chance to kick dirt on my favorite XC course. Admittedly, I was feeling a little lost and forlorn as I motored alone to San Rafael for the 4.25m Tamalpa XC Challenge––or what Tamalpa harriers simply refer to as “The Johnny” in memory of their running brother John Larson who, like our own SPARTAN brother, Paul Tjogas, unexpectedly passed too soon away to race through the heavens. Maybe it was the memory of Paul that induced my reverie as I rolled across the long expanse of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. As the walls of San Quentin appeared on the small peninsula of the San Francisco Bay, I too felt imprisoned by my own thoughts of XC courses gone by: Marine College, Crystal Springs, the Presidio, Alum Rock, Shoreline, Stanford, Davis, Rocklin––all erased and gone to memory.
And where have all the SPARTAN harriers gone who once filled the SPARTAN chariot with merriment, and scampered through these courses with the youth of middleage?: Jerome, Cisco, Buzbee, Carlos, Radigan, Burke, Pete, Cunningham, Andrea, Charles, and so many other faces whose names I can no longer remember.
Shaking these dreams from my head, I was soon rolling beside the calm waters of San Pablo Bay––beneath a canopy of cloudless, sunlit blue––and into China Camp State Park. I passed the long stream of cars along the shoulder of the road until I found an empty spot, parked, and began the half-mile trek to Miwok Meadows. I arrived in time to see the start of the Women’s Open race, and I followed their dust to set up camp near the Finish Line among the gathering harriers of the many tribal running teams.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear…could it be? Yes, that was Sal standing in the distance! We greeted each other with joyful amazement. Sal had driven to the rendezvous point at Panera, only to be abandoned. No one told him we weren’t going to China Camp, so, disheartened, he continued on alone. And then shortly later, who should appear from the crowd of harriers but Nick and his lovely bride, Eirene!
Nick decided to run and show Eirene the State Park, and so he too thought he was the lone SPARTAN. And then we were three, and the blessed trinity of SPARTANS had a team! Now I knew how Sacagawea must have felt when she serendipitously found her Shoshone brother while guiding Lewis and Clark through the Bitterroot Valley. Only we were in Miwok Meadows and would now guide each other––the oft-lost SPARTANS–– to the finish line in a heat that combined Masters 60+ men and women.
The China Camp course begins on a fire-road which soon funnels you onto a
romping, rolling, single-track trail through wooded hills crowded with scrub oaks and occasional peek-a-boo vista-views of the bay, the salt marshes, and the grassy meadows
beneath the rolling hills. The course is not without roots, rocks, ruts, and rises; and
there’s an accumulated total of about 1/2 mile of flat, paved road. There was a slight course change this year that went through the edge of a campground and back across a wood bridge into the campground parking lot due to the closure of the older trail section. It’s a true cross country challenge, and a rollicking ride through a meandering, Le Mans type course full of twists, turns, hairpins, switchbacks and elbow bends. With the crack of the gun, Nick took his place as the lead SPARTAN on his way to trimming 40 seconds off his 2023 run! Sal was trailing Nick on a run that would shave one minute off his 2024 time! I was farther back with Norm Cornwell and Carol Preisig of Tamalpa clicking at my heels; but less than two miles out, Norm buzzed by me, and after another half mile, so did Carol. I never saw them again. I floundered heavily in the last mile, but managed to the finish before the culinary smorgasbord of post-race comestibles were all consumed.
True to form, the Tamalpa tribe put out an artfully arranged banquet of après-race treats of apples, oranges, bananas, energy bars, bagels, and, of course, a keg of beer. No more souvenir beer glasses, but Tamalpa is known for its beer-blast finish and the free brewskies remain part of the John Larson tradition. (Some of you long-term SPARTANS may remember that the fastest 40-yard dash ever recorded at Tamalpa was Greg Burke running from the Finish Line to the beer keg.)
And so a day that began with the blue-tinged memories of days gone by, ended with the joyful reunion of present, and future dreams. Yes, there will come the day when we can no longer run. But today was not that day . . . .
kurt gravenhorst
RESULTS:
Jeff Hongo: 28:58 (4th place in 60+ division)
Nick Butterfield: 39:08
Norm Cornwell: 44:44
Sal Martinez; 46:26
Kurt Gravenhorst: 47:19
Bill Busher: 53:15
Side Note:
With the absence of SRA Elite’s A Team, The HOKA Aggies took the top three finishes in the Men’s Open (Andrew Vasquez scorching the course in 21:48), and the top five finishes in the Women’s Open (Rayna Stanziano”s 24:53 was just 3 seconds ahead of her teammate Shuyler Gooley).
THE GOOD OLD DAYS . . .
GOLDEN GATE 2015