HISTORY OF THE GREAT RACE

The Rotary Club of Los Gatos Great Race, known to all as "THE GREAT RACE", began in 1978 when Bill Glennon,  the mayor of Saratoga,  suggested a race between neighboring Los Gatos and Saratoga. Bill had formed a running group in Saratoga to encourage people to train for and run a marathon.  His idea for the race was an  effort  to  facilitate  training  and  foster  community participation.

In the early years of the event, starting guns would sound in both Los Gatos and Saratoga, and runners would take off in each direction, passing each other near the midway point on Highway 9. There was  friendly competition between the two communities, initially with regard to the fastest runners; however, the friendly competition is now with regard to the number of participants registered from each community.  There have been male and female winners from Los Gatos, and then a winning pair from Saratoga. Finally, the town with the greatest number of participants was presented the Glennon Cup.

Although the race was originally limited to residents of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga, as well as those who worked in the communities, it drew a large field each year.  Many Los Gatos Rotarians and their families participated in this fine community event.

The Great Race was initially sponsored by Great Western Savings and Loan Association, which had offices both in Los Gatos and Saratoga.  Apparently the sponsorship was conceived by PRX Public Relations firm as a publicity event for Great Western.  After Great Western Savings was purchased by Downey Savings and Loan Association the race continued under Downey's sponsorship.

Early in the 1983-1984 Rotary year, the Los Gatos Rotary Club's Board of Directors explored many potential suggestions for events particularly those with revenues  for our charitable activities in which our Club could participate.

A rumor persisted that the Great Race might flounder because of the lack of a sponsor.

Club President John K. Colwell M.D. talked with the local Downey Savings branch and, ultimately the Downey management in Southern California confirmed its sponsorship was terminated. Downey Savings felt that the $25,000 fee charged by the public relations firm was more than Downey could afford at the time. Downey did say that it felt that it probably was not achieving $25,000  of  increase~ pr6fits each year resulting  from the sponsorship.

A phone call was then made to the PRX Public Relations firm. It too acknowledged that Downey had cancelled its sponsorship, but PRX stated that several institutions were interested in replacing Downey as sponsors.  We told PRX that we heartily supported the idea of a yearly race in our community, and if other sponsors were not found, then the Rotary Club of Los Gatos might be interested in taking over sponsorship of the race.  PRX then countered with a request for $25,000 from Los Gatos Rotary in exchange for PRX's sponsorship.  Obviously PRX's concept of sponsorship was different than our Club's concept and we explained to it the concept of a service club and its involvement.  PRX stated that it was sure it could obtain appropriate sponsorship. We reiterated that should it be unable to obtain a sponsorship, then Rotary Club would step in and keep the race alive.  However, all the effort and labor would come from the Club, and we did not feel it was necessary to make any payments for this privilege in addition to our own efforts and labor.

A month or two went by, and phone calls ascertained that a sponsorship was not forthcoming with the $25,000.  It was at this juncture that president Colwell asked the Board to consider involving  Rotary  as  the  primary  sponsor.    The Board was enthusiastic and a Club Assembly was called to discuss the proposal.

The proposal was presented to the Club 6n three grounds:

Firstly, the Great Race was a traditional community event.  It involved a large segment of the local population.  It involved a healthy enterprise with salubrious exercise, and obviously promoted good will among the participants, most of whom were members of the Los Gatos community.

Secondly, it involved the entire Rotary Club membership.  For the day of the race, all Los Gatos Rotarians are involved in one way or another in the race management.  This was felt to be a significant plus in terms of cohesiveness and camaraderie for our membership.

Thirdly, if we were able to find a commercial sponsor to pay for the T-shirts given to each registrant, we might make some profit on the race, and then contribute this profit to the Club to provide funding for our charitable activities.

Although the proposal was made with the expected trepidation involving a totally new concept and commitment, the response of the Club was astounding.  There was overwhelming support of the idea and, in fact, the vote to proceed with involvement was unanimous.

A committee was formed to map out the details of the race. Bob Beatty agreed to head the committee and was the first Great Race Chairman.   Because there was no first hand historical information, the planning was a bit disjointed.  A decision was made early on to restrict the race to one direction,  thus eliminating one start line and one finish line.  Downey Savings agreed to let us start the race again in its parking lot in Saratoga, and to use the lot as our central headquarters.  Downey also agreed to let us complete the race at its Los Gatos business parking lot.

Contact was made with Saratoga Savings and Loan Association, and it agreed to contribute $10,000 toward the purchase of race t-­shirts.  Club member, Ray Cobb agreed to head the Design Committee for the shirt logo.  Being the consummate artist that he is, the effort was distilled into a one-man operation.  Maren Seidler, a former world record shot putter who resides in Los Gatos, agreed to produce the shirts for a favorable price.  Publicity was then generated, and Los Gatos Rotary Club embarked on its way to its first year as manager and supervisor of the Great Race.

Two hitches occurred from a legal standpoint.  Firstly the public relations firm contacted us and wanted payment for their involvement.  President Colwell met with the principals and their attorney, and reiterated that Los Gatos Rotary was only involved because the race was in danger of floundering without appropriate sponsorship. Secondly, all of the efforts and energies by the Club in running the race were donated and there were no profits to be made.  Thirdly, it was pointed out that any surplus that might accrue would then be immediately donated to charity.  Fortunately, PRX dropped the matter.

Our second legal hitch occurred a year or two later when we heard from Great Western Savings and Loan, which still owned many branches in Northern California. They stated that the "Great Race" logo was their proprietary and copyright possession.   Legal papers documenting this copyright were forwarded to us.  In order to maintain the spirit of the local history and race name, we proceeded to call it the "Great Saratoga to Los Gatos Race."  The appellation has apparently eroded, because Great Western Savings has never pursued its allegations, if they ever existed.

The first Great Race was a tremendous success on all counts. Participation by the public and the Los Gatos Rotary Club was enthusiastic and essentially unanimous on the part of the Club. The feeling of accomplishment was exhilarating, because of our success.  Additionally1 there was a ready-made project that could be repeated indefinitely barring unforeseen factors in the future.

Over the years, many minor changes have been made in the race format to achieve greater efficiency.  The finish line has been changed.  One year we experimented by finishing the race in Oak Meadow Park.  There was a fairly good rain on the morning of that race, which reduced the finish line to a quagmire of mud. And, the race route required crossing Winchester Boulevard, a fact that did not make the local law enforcement happy (not to mention some of the motorists who were inconvenienced and later lodged protests to the appropriate authorities).

Later, the finish line was moved further down the street to accommodate increasing numbers of racers.

The present location of the race now permits easy access to the Old Town parking lot, which can accommodate the larger crowds of racers and friends, who seek thirst quenchers of donated oranges and bottled water.  Rotary Club members and members of Inner Wheel distribute the oranges and water.

Because of the increasing popularity of the race and larger and larger attendance, the start line was moved from Blainey Plaza in downtown Saratoga to Oak Street, so that the large throng of people would not interfere with traffic any more than necessary.

Larger crowds of people necessitated more facilities, and portable toilets were introduced in the second or third year. During the last few years, the finish line and the compilation of all the appropriate finish times have been under the aegis of the Los Gatos Athletic Association.  Again, because of the increasing' size and complexity of the event, the Club contracted with Total Race Systems to handle these duties for the 1993, 1994, and 1995 races.

Early on in the history of the race, the Los Gatos Rotary Club hosted a brunch at the Los Gatos Lodge following the event for members and families.  Because of the already long time commitment and varying time periods of responsibility, this became unwieldy and eventually was abandoned by mutual consent of the members.

Saratoga Savings and Loan remained sponsors for the event for many  years.    However,  its  fortunes  fell,  precluding  its participation.  More sponsors were sought, and in fact a much broader base of sponsorship now exists, which provides a more reliable financial arrangement.

The 1994 Great Race was 3.8 miles long.   Trophies were presented to the top three finishers in each of the seven different male and female age groups, just as in past races.

The Great Race is more a "fun event" than a do or die marathon.  The Race does attract the "record seekers"; however, in recent years joggers, walkers, baby-stroller-pushers participate --all equally welcome.

Major sponsors over the  years have been Saratoga Savings, Wolf Computer, Cornish & Carey, Runners Factory, G.T.E. and many other local businesses.

John.Colwell and Cas Szukalski February, 1995