Surf City Halloween ‘Cross

By Natasha Perry
Santa Cruz, California

Photo by Lauren Haughey.

Standing around at 6pm Sunday with the other volunteers (all people who love the bella vibe) – I saw the tired, dirt streaked faces and bodies sagging with exhaustion and thought to myself “here are the real racers of this CX race”. Even more touching was that more than a handful of these generous souls didn’t even race. They came because they wanted to support the cause, have some fun – all tucked in with a good amount of serious work.

Sabine in her magical manner somehow manages to tame and tweak the chaos each year so that we run around accomplishing tasks almost without knowing what we are doing. And behind the scenes there’s a lot of support – and what an experience to see the volunteer team come together and put on such a fabulous show.

What a show it was – People were so silly and giddy during the costume race that you couldn’t help but cackle with glee and snort out your (beer) beverage. All complete with the bestest Halloween decorating that you would (boo!) die for – I mean, really – a casket, a real one – courtesy of our decorating maestro.

And there was racing – lots of fabulous, tear your legs off, let the draculas suck your blood racing. Hecklers were in fine form, complete with Spidey Man lurking at the bottom of the run-up – and no one other than the “Sexy FBI” to greet you at the top. You had to be there.

Finally at the end of the night, I looked over and saw a young girl picking the bottles out of the trash can in the field next door. Bend, sift, place bottle in a pile; repeat. My heart just sort of broke. After the wild craziness of the day – to see someone working so hard for…pennies. Before I knew it – I was over talking to her, offering up our neatly sorted recycling (courtesy of Team Welliver). She yelled to her Dad across the field – they’d take it all.

And so I left the race that night reflecting that in giving, you get so many rewarding and sometimes challenging experiences. A huge thank you to everyone who put in the time to make the race come together. That in my mind, is what makes it so special.

Visit the Surf City Blog for results and more photos of all the fun!

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