Zappos Wants to Set All the Records at Bay to Breakers

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Call Bay to Breakers a footrace if you want, but most San Franciscans use the cross-city trek as a front for a seven-mile costume party. Not that we're judging— that's part of what makes the event great, even if it raises obstacles for securing sponsorship.

Over the last 10 years, B2B sponsorship has shifted between companies in a veritable round of financial hot potato, but this week Zappos.com stepped up to assume multi-year guardianship over the fun run. As part of the deal, the event will be renamed Zappos.com Bay to Breakers for the duration of the partnership.

If you're a Zappos fan (or you read Delivering Happiness), you know that Vegas-based Zappos was born right here in San Francisco. Thanks to that Bay Area heritage, CEO Tony Hsieh and the rest of the Zappos team not only know what to expect on race day, they're looking for ways to make the event even more creative.

Zappos.com and Bay to Breakers are encouraging race participants and spectators to join forces and set an additional 40 world records on race day, May 17th. Yellow jacket officials from RecordSetter will be on-site adjudicating fun and weird world records throughout the course. Additionally, Zappos and Bay to Breakers want race participants to submit their wacky record breaker ideas online at zappos.com/baytobreakers using #baytobreakingrecords. The most creative, fun and weird record submissions will be chosen and announced one week prior to the race.

In a record-setting statement, Hsieh explained "We are... very excited about this thing." (The ellipsis in that quote replaced 450 verys in Hsieh's statement. We counted.) If you, too, are very excited about the record-breaking race, Zappos has a few suggestions to help you think about what record you'll break. And if you need a new pair of shoes to get through your seven-mile scramble, we hear they deliver.