By Tad Stearn
It’s a six-mile rolling carnival of a road race. A motivating musical experience with 30+ bands. A community event with 16,000 friends old and new. Call it what you want, the 54th running of the Wharf to Wharf Race on the morning of Sunday, July 26, was once again more fun than a pair of running shoes should be allowed to have.
For the second year in a row “The Best Little Road Race in California” started at 30th Street and Portola Drive on the east side instead of the traditional start at the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and the Boardwalk due to ongoing construction and closure of the Murray Street Bridge. The course traveled north toward the harbor before turning back south and connecting with the traditional route for the final four miles.
A Ukulele Team performs on the Wharf to Wharf course to entertain the participants.
Fun and festivities aside, the W2W is a competitive racing event with an international draw and prize money at stake for the top finishers. Twenty-six-year-old Latvian runner Arturs Medveds repeated his 2025 victory as the men’s winner with a time of 27:22, chased by Anthony Raftis and Nicolas Brichta finishing second and third, respectively. Flagstaff AZ resident Paige Wood, 30, sealed her victory in the women’s bracket with a time of 30:34, followed by Lauren Hagans and Rebecca Rader.
Top finishing local men included Sean Riedel of Santa Cruz running a 30:12 and Matthew Quinn of Aptos, finishing at 30:26. Recent Aptos High graduate Maya Schiro of Corralitos was the top local women’s finisher, running a very impressive 35:12 in her third W2W.
While race organizers hope to return to the traditional starting line next year, the start on Portola Drive provided some unique opportunities for local businesses between 30th and 41st avenues. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops were open early providing race-day specials for the thousands of runners stretching, hydrating and loading into their numbered corrals waiting for the starting gun.
Salty Striders
Pete Cirina, owner of the Over the Hill Gang Saloon for the past 35 years, had “breakfast shots” lined up for those who wanted to start the party early. Really early. “It’s a great business day for us, it really is” he says. “I was debating whether to open or not, but with my liquor license I can open at 6 a.m. So we went ahead and opened up early today. This is awesome for us.”
Beyond the scenic seaside course and cool summer weather, another major draw of the W2W is the festive, welcoming atmosphere for athletes of all ages and abilities. Individuals, friends, families, school groups, co-workers and others get together to share the experience of improving health, setting goals, meeting challenges and testing what is possible. That positive experience is at the core of W2W’s mission.
Debby Tuck, owner of the Capitola Sands vacation rental in Capitola Village, led a group of about 20 friends on the run. “Most of us are connected from our work and our kids growing up together, and a few of us have homes here in Capitola and Santa Cruz. I saw the race was coming, so I reached out to everyone and said let’s do the Wharf to Wharf together. So here we all are!” Debby’s group of “Salty Striders” were having a blast decked out in color-coordinated gear and cheeky T-shirts.
CrossFit Aptos
It was the first race together for the Salty Striders, and the first of its kind for Debby’s husband Brian. Brian’s participation was all the more impressive considering he recently received a liver transplant and has been working through healing and rehabilitation to get to this point.
“He’s never done anything like this,” said Debby. “I’m so proud of Brian for doing this race. It was a huge accomplishment for him to even try, and to finish in 1:45!”
In Brian’s case, he said he wants to “motivate others, encourage others to be organ donors, and keep moving and smiling.”
The W2W is produced and administered by Wharf to Wharf Race Inc., a California nonprofit corporation chartered to promote running as a means to health and fitness. In service of this mission, the Race has, since its inception in 1973, contributed more than $6 million dollars to Santa Cruz County youth sports programs in general and the running community in particular, according to its website. W2W is a boost to local business, annually infusing more than 8 million dollars into the Santa Cruz County economy.