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4 WHARF TO WHARF SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL b y C A L v I N M E N GEttING a BIB IS a raCE IN ItSELf F rom a racer's perspective, trying to snag a registration for 45th annual Wharf to Wharf is a matter of diligently clicking through the registration website. but it's much more hectic from the race director's perspective. "It's pretty intense," said scott McConville, race director for the annual event. "It's not a push of a button, grab your coffee and put your feet up." The 45th annual Wharf to Wharf hits the road from santa Cruz to Capitola starting at 8:30 a.m. July 23. Organizers look at how long each person is on the registration page as well as a host of other metrics. One thing at the top of their mind: the speed at which the race sells out. slots for general and local registration sell out within an hour. The last thing they want registration to become is a race to see who can click the button faster. That's why the race implemented four windows for registration. Each is designed with a specific demographic in mind. One of the newest features is the loyalty window, which gives potential races a special code to register at a slower pace. The only requirement was they have registered four out of the last seven Wharf to Wharfs. "I think we owe it to people who were left out in the past to find ways to get them to register," McConville said. The loyalty and local registration windows are meant to keep the race in the community. The general admission is synonymous with open registration and the random selection is a lottery for anyone else who didn't get in. "We know it's never going to be perfect but we're always going to try and make it better," McConville said. but registration for the race wasn't always so chaotic. back before the age of the internet, organizers dropped off registration forms across the county and would-be racers came in to pay the fee. Former race director Kirby Nicol said he remembers picking up registration forms from the post office using a shopping cart. Then, they had to count the number of registrants by hand. When they thought they were close to capacity, they ran a newspaper ad to announce it was full. And Nicol was there when organizers changed the direction of the race in the 1990s by capping the attendance. Instead of trying to grow the race into the biggest, they wanted to make it the best. It allowed organizers to better prepare for the race. SCott MCCoNvILLE, raCE DIrECtor dan coyro - sanTa cruz senTinel CoNtINUES oN 5

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