Walking is like a game. Bay to Breakers Amazing Walking Marathon in San Francisco
Walking is like a game. Bay to Breakers Amazing Walking Marathon in San Francisco

Video: Walking is like a game. Bay to Breakers Amazing Walking Marathon in San Francisco

Video: Walking is like a game. Bay to Breakers Amazing Walking Marathon in San Francisco
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Walking is like a game. The most eccentric walking marathon in the world
Walking is like a game. The most eccentric walking marathon in the world

If Americans are somehow different from us, then, in particular, their addiction to the show. And not to a show where passive spectators are strained to entertain, but to one where each participant has fun to the fullest. It is natural that even race walking they turned into an attraction, fun dress up game - in which the winner is not the one who comes first, but… everyone. And all this action takes place in the sunny San Francisco in the middle of May.

Walking and Playing: Bay to Breakers
Walking and Playing: Bay to Breakers

"Bay to Breakers" (which we will very roughly translate as "To the Bay") is an annual walking competition in which about 60,000 San Francisco residents now take part (and in 1986 there were 110,000!). The tradition was founded at the beginning of the 20th century. Compared to the marathon in the sands of the Sahara, the distance they cover seems ridiculous - about 12.5 kilometers (in fact, to the Embarcadero embankment). Although the winners count here, the International Athletics Association is reluctant to acknowledge their dubious records. By the way, over the past 20 years, the race has been won exclusively by participants of Kenyan origin - as you can see, Kenyans are lucky not only in the presidential elections. However, in "Bay to Breakers" the main thing is not walking, but playing.

Bay to Breakers: Imperial Space Marine
Bay to Breakers: Imperial Space Marine

Acting in the actor's sense of the word: among tens of thousands of walkers, attention is drawn to the most awkward costumes and outfits in which "athletes" wear: cartoon characters, Star Marines, pink monkeys, mammoths - and, of course, dozens of Elvis Presleys in person. Madhouse? Perhaps. But it's fun.

Bay to Breakers: Crowd on a Hike
Bay to Breakers: Crowd on a Hike
Bay to Breakers: Antisocial Elvis
Bay to Breakers: Antisocial Elvis

The event is really not too serious: half of its participants are "bandits" - that is, illegal immigrants, "walkers without a license." Among them last year was even the mayor of San Francisco, who ran for a run and forgot to pay the registration fee. As you can see, Americans love freebies as much as we do.

Walking and playing: square pants barely get in the way of SpongeBob's competition
Walking and playing: square pants barely get in the way of SpongeBob's competition

"Walking game"usually lasts half a day, during which you can see the most unexpected characters on the streets. And by the way, the whole event brings tremendous benefits to the city: not only does it amuse the locals a lot (you can look at the walkers from the windows), it also strengthens their health: it is said that each kilometer traveled prolongs life by more than an hour.

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