About the Brickyard Race

Brickyard Race News:

8.03.10
And so begins the preparation work for Brickyard 2011! The 43rd Annual Brickyard Race will take place on April 10, 2011. We'll be incorperating chip timing (really!), dri-fit race t-shirts, as well as many other new features! Please check back in the coming months for the latest information. Registration opens in late December!

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It's The Martinez "Luka Sekulich" Brickyard Race

By Jay Hansell

Images of Gable, Bergman, and Bogart come to mind at the mention of The Burma Road, an exotic twisted mountain road that connects Southern China to the port of Rangoon on The Bay of Bengal: We've all run Contra Costa's version of it! Some of us have won an award or two racing over eight-plus miles of it.

The Carquinez Scenic Highway, carved into the cliffs high above the Carquinez Straits, was known to locals as the Burma Road and to us as the route of the Brickyard run and race. Built in 1886, at a cost of $684 per mile, it was a state highway until 1950 and was the only road linking the thriving ports of Crocket, Port Costa and Martinez. Picture yourself rounding one of its curves and meeting face to face a Greyhound Bus.

With the opening of the Martinez-Benicia Bridge and the Franklin Canyon Highway (State Route 4) and the end of grain shipping from Port Costa, travel long the road declined. Now Contra Costans use it to admire the view and teens to taste their first brew at the scenic overlooks. One overlook, a spot where locals enjoy after-dark recreation, is called Point Conception. Joseph Walker, who discovered Yosemite Valley in 1833, is buried in the Protestant Cemetery on the bay side of the road.

In 1968, Luka Sekulich, a wood shop teacher at Alhambra High, a runner, and a member of the Northern California Seniors started the Brickyard Race. The eight-mile race started at the corner of Green and Talber in Martinez and turned back at the bridge by the Port Costa Brick plant. Eighty-seven people made it to the brickyard and back the first year.

After numerous complaints from neighbors, the start was moved in 1971 to Rankin Park, named for the 1888 sheriff of Martinez, James Rankin. The turning point was moved to the brick plant's main gate, adding two-tenths of a mile to the course, for a total of 8.4 miles.

For 25 years Luka set the Brickyard Race in motion by slapping two hinged two-by-fours together and gave the winners trophies he carved from wood. The course record belongs to Inge Simonsen of Norway who in 1981 ran the 8.4 miles in 39:49. Over the years Sal Vasquez ran to the brickyard and back many times. His fasted time was 41.51 in '82. Charlotte Gilbert placed first more times than any other woman. Her record setting pace was 48:41 in '87.

One rainy February, Charlotte's shoe came off in a patch of thick mud. She retrieved it, put it on, and was the first woman to cross the finish.

In 1984, the rain dampened soil slid from under the highway, closing it to through automobile traffic for good (no more face to face encounters with buses). The East Bay Regional Parks District purchased the land along the highway in 1985. It is now part of the 2700-acre Carquinez Strait Regional Park.

The Brickyard Race route was added to our Saturday run rotation in 1988. In 1989 the last brick emerged from the Port Costa Brick plant. What began with the quake of '06 ended with the quake of '89.

In 1906 bricks were needed to rebuild "The City". In 1989 they were relegated to suburban patios and there were plenty of used ones on the ground. After running the Brickyard Race for 25 years, Luka retired and the Brickyard Race with him.

For two years, the Diablo Road Runners, ran their own race, The Mount Diablo Relays. The first relay, in 1989, was a seven-leg 49-mile run around our namesake: the second year was a four-leg five-mile run around Shell Ridge. The race was lots of pain and no gain. The club voted to end it. In 1993, Dave Peck proposed taking over the Brickyard Race. The rest is history, almost.

In 1994, the first year the Diablo Road Runners operated the race, 150 runners raced to the Brickyard and back. In 1997, 425 competed. In 1999, Dave passed the baton to Terri Malone and the race's name was changed to the "Martinez ‘Luka Sekulich' Brichyard Race". Five years ago, a new tradition was started by giving out bricks as awards; full bricks for the 8-mile and half bricks for the 4-mile races. And old traditions never die, Luka Sekulich will be there starting the race by slapping his two-by-fours together.

Join us at The Martinez "Luka Sekulich" Brickyard Race on April 18th 2010 at 8:30 am. Come out and enjoy the scenery along the Burma Road. Race information can be found on www.brickyardrace.com, the local running stores (Pleasant Hill/Pleasanton, Walnut Creek and Danville) and the race director at: aford@alhambratrack.com. On-line registration available through www.active.com.