CROSS COUNTRY CLUB. - A Race Arranged Between Pedestrians and a Wheelman. - The San Francisco Call, 27 May 1892

From Wooljersey

CROSS COUNTRY CLUB.

A Race Arranged Between Pedestrians and a Wheelman.

Sunday morning a large party comprising members of the Gentlemen's Cross Country Club went over to Fairfax, from which station they walked to Camp Taylor by way of Larsen's Inn, the Bolinas bridge and Lagunitas Creek. At Lagunitas station the party divided, and one section continued their tramp on to Fairfax. The latter party covered a distance of nearly 30 miles. Larsen's Inn was made in 1 hour and 45 minutes, Lagunitas station was reached at 3 o'clock and Fairfax at 6 o'clock. The trail along the ridge is overgrown with shrubs and in some places is completely lost, and the pedestrians several times lost their bearings and had to fight their way through the jungle. The club last year made a record of 1 hour and 40 minutes from Fairfax, past Liberty Farm to Larsen's Inn, which time has never been beaten. On the occasion mentioned the cross country team of the Olympic Club started from Ross station, having 20 minutes' earlier start, and arrived at the summit several minutes after the Gentlemen's Club.

There exists a friendly rivalry between the members of the G. C. C. Club, and when on their outings impromptu contests of speed and endurance are the natural result. Several members of the club ride bicycles, and one of the wheelmen has issued a challenge to the pedestrians to race him from Sausalito via Mill Valley and the summit of Mount Tamalpais, thence to Larsen's Inn and then to Camp Taylor. The country to be traversed is steep and rocky in many places, while in others the brush and ferns are so dense as to be almost impassable, and it will be necessary to carry the wheel overhead for a considerable distance. The rider in question rides an "ordinary," never has used a "safety,” and proposes the contest to demonstrate that the "ordinary,” backed by pluck and endurance, will "go" places where many men would fail to get through on foot even with the assistance of hill-climbing shoes and alpenstocks.