Santa Cruz Observer

Race is on: Wharf to Wharf will sell out early

Entries are coming in at a record clip for the 2011 Wharf to Wharf Race. Registration started on April 1 -- and in the first five days some 7,500 runners have already registered. The race is limited to 15,000 registered runners.

The notice went out on April 1 on the Wharf to Wharf Facebook page. Race director Kirby Nicol said this week that the response to the race "is unlike anything I've ever seen. We've got a tiger by the tail."

The Wharf to Wharf is now in its 39th year. It's always run on the fourth Sunday in July -- this year, that's July 24.

But it'll be long sold out by that time. Nicol estimates: "At this rate, our 15,000 runner limited field will be sold out before the end of April. The time to enter is NOW!"

For more information and to register, follow this link.

Hundreds quick to register for Wharf to Wharf

UPDATE: Registration opened at midnight April 1 for the Wharf to Wharf Race -- scheduled as always for the fourth Sunday in July. By 8 a.m. 600 prospective runners had already registered. By 11 a.m., that figure had reached nearly 3,000.

Every year, the 15,000 slots are filled -- usually by mid-May. Judging from the first-day numbers, it may sell out quicker.

To register, go to the Wharf to Wharf website.

Capitola merchants get the big tent ready

  They haven't decided yet whether to call it a tent or a pavilion or something else, but merchant Carin Hanna says that "Tent City" is coming to Capitola.

A big tent that will house flooded-out businesses is due to open on Saturday. Hanna, owner of the longtime Capitola business Craft Gallery said that she's ready to move her things from the store at the corner of Capitola and San Jose avenues. She said that merchants remembered how quickly Santa Cruz business owners moved into tents after the '89 Loma Prieta Earthquake -- so she her colleagues decided to do the same thing.

Thursday was a bizarre day in Capitola. A few visitors walked around to take in the sight of merchants and homeowners in the Village cleaning up from the storm damage.
But more just went to the beach to enjoy the 80-degree afternoon. It was as if there were two Capitola Villages -- the glimmering beach town and the one that's trying to recover from last week's storm. The people out on the beach seemed oblivious to the disaster of just five days earlier.

The "Capitola Tent City" will be set up behind the Capitola Mercantile, where the paid-parking lot is just off the Esplanade. Village
merchants and city officials worked out an arrangement earlier this week in which the city will pay for the tents --er, pavilions -- and the merchants will pay for security of the site.

Still, there's a challenge to all this. Parking is always difficult in Capitola, and that will make quick visits by shoppers hard to do. Still, Hanna said, she's hopeful that folks will turn out to help out the suddenly homeless businesses.

As for the Craft Gallery, the main shop will close permanently and relocate to its current annex just up the street. Other merchants are in the process of deciding how and when and even if to reopen.