By Dick Sparrer
It should feature a cast of thousands.
Well, a couple of thousand, anyway.
It's the 19th annual Great Race from Saratoga to Los Gatos, and more than 2,000 runners are expected to make the 3.8-mile trek up Highway 9 on Feb. 25.
The Great Race, sponsored by the Los Gatos Rotary Club, will get under way at 9 a.m. on Sunday. Runners will gather at Saratoga School on Oak Street in Saratoga for the start and travel a course alongside Highway 9 until reaching the finish line on Santa Cruz Avenue in Los Gatos.
For the 13th straight year, the Los Gatos Rotary Club will sponsor the race that actually dates back to 1978.
The origin of the Great Race can be traced back to '78 when Bill Glennon, then the mayor of Saratoga, suggested a race between the neighboring communities.
In the early days of the event, runners would start in both Saratoga and Los Gatos and race past each other on Highway 9 on their way to the two different finish lines in the two communities.
The race was limited to residents of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga, and the community registering the most runners would be awarded the Glennon Cup.
While the race was a popular annual event in the area, lack of sponsorship threatened its existence in the early 1980s. In 1984, the Rotary Club stepped in to take over sponsorship of the event and its popularity continues to grow each year.
There were 1,300 runners in the Great Race in '84, but that total grew to more than 2,000 by 1987 and to over 2,500 in 1991.
Race-day registration will begin at 7 a.m., and the registration fee for the race, which will be held rain or shine, is $16. For more information, call 980-7223.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 21, 1996.
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