Run your own Manhattan Beach 10K
In the Manhattan Beach 10K’s early years, runners rounded the Roundhouse at the end of the pier and finished at the foot of the pier, as shown in this 1984 photo. Photo by John Post
The 42nd Annual Manhattan Beach 10K harkens back to 1982 for its race shirt design and into the future for the race course.
Manhattan Repro owner Dave Schwartz, who designed this year’s race shirt, said the 1982 race shirt, featuring a rainbow ribbon, was among the most popular over the past four decades. So the race committee asked him to incorporate that art with a more contemporary type treatment and an updated logo.
The logo features a large wave about to engulf a runner on the Roundhouse pier.
“The challenge was to merge the images without it looking too much like a hodgepodge, because there’s a lot going on,” Schwartz said.
Helping to keep the race shirt designs clean over the years has been the absence of sponsor logos, a tradition that has been honored since the first race in 1978.
“We may have the only race shirt in the country not cluttered up by logos,” said former Manhattan Beach mayor Russ, a race founder and early race director.
To earn the shirt, runners and walkers are asked to “Run your own race,” anywhere in the world, between October 1 and October 10. Evidence of having run or walked a 10K is to be submitted in the form of photos or course tracking by software applications such as Strava.
The traditional mass start along Valley Drive and Ardmore Avenue and the finish at the Manhattan Beach pier is prohibited because of the pandemic. But runners who want to individually or in small groups run the traditional course can find the route online at the Manhattan Beach 10K website.
Runners are also invited to submit their memories and and memorabilia in digital format from previous Manhattan Beach 10Ks for inclusion in the MB10K.com Through the Years pages,
“The history of this race is scattered between local newspaper archives, social media, personal scrapbooks, random boxes in storage, framed on walls and even sewn into quilts. We’d love your help in creating this page so we can celebrate the MB10k this year and into eternity,” race director Rachel Judson said.
To register and for additional information visit MB10.com. ER