A Jolly Chap Named Solly Is King of 10K Runnin’ and Funnin’

Finally, the Redondo Beach Super Bowl Sunday 10-kilometer run has a winner truly worthy of Southern California’s largest, and nuttiest, foot race.

He’s Englishman Jonathan Solly, and not to slight any of the previous winners of the 9-year-old race, he’s the personification of many of the 19,000 runners in Sunday’s race.

Solly, 23 from London, is the atypical runner, albeit a bit more competitive and a lot faster than most, in this wacky race. Sunday, he led a considerable cast of characters, himself included, over the 6.2-mile course in 28 minutes 58 seconds.

Matt Ebiner of West Covina finished second to Solly in 29:44 and Alfredo Rosas of Fresno was third in 29:50.

Solly is as well known in British running circles for his off-the-track antics as for his racing ability.

There is the Solly who has sky dived on occasion and was once tossed in jail for dropping his trousers in front of a couple of policemen.

According to an English running magazine, Solly got a little drunk at a pub with some Durham University friends and, well, one thing led to another.

Another college party resulted in a broken wrist for Solly.

“At college I enjoyed myself a lot, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “Now that I’m concentrating on athletics, I’m enjoying it so much I don’t feel a need to hurl myself out of airplanes at 10,000 feet.”

Then, there is the Solly who won the Commonwealth Games 10,000 meters last summer in Edinburgh, Scotland. He also won the British national 10,000 title.

Solly also is one to speak his mind. After his Commonwealth win, English track and field officials wanted him to run the 10,000 at the European Championships less than a month later.

However, Solly, tired from his earlier efforts, wanted to run the 5,000, not the 10,000. He stuck to his principles, and to the officials’ dismay, refused to run in the meet.

He’s a guy who likes to have a good time and still runs world-class times.

And he had plenty of company in the nation’s largest Super Bowl pre-game party. The name of this game was fun.

The race is chock full o’ nuts--dressed as football players, waiters, and even a guy carrying a four-foot-tall green dinosaur on his shoulders.

At the start, the familiar refrain is: “Save me a beer at the finish.”

At the finish line it’s: “Gimme another beer.” And, “Go, Giants (or Broncos).”

Though he’s only been in Los Angeles for a week, Solly seemed to understand all this partying well.

“I was watching the people and their costumes, which were amazing,” Solly said.

“Americans seem to work very hard at having a good time.

Indeed.

The City of Hawthorne Fire Dept., seven of them, carried a net with a plastic blow-up doll that looked as if belonged in a window at Fredrick’s of Hollywood.

Then there was the group of football players that carried a football field--complete with 50-yard line and goal posts--made of plastic draped over their shoulders.

And the four-headed runner, made up of two men, two women and one very large T-shirt with four holes cut-out for their heads.

Not to forget the gray and black sharks. Land sharks that is. Six of them, who took second to the Hawthorne firemen in the six-pack costume competition.

Some of the costumed runners even managed to run fast times.

Susan Berenda of San Clemente and Marty Cooksey of Orange were battling for the women’s division lead in the last miles and found themselves next to some faster men dressed as a centipede.

“It was funny,” Berenda said. “They were saying, ‘Here come the girls. We can’t let them beat us.’ ”

Berenda managed to beat Cooksey in 32:49. Sylvia Mosqueda of Alhambra was third in 33:26.

But Berenda couldn’t say if she beat the centipede or not.

“I hope I did,” she said. “They really didn’t want us to beat them.”

Almost lost among the throng was tiny Carrie Garritson of Fullerton. Garritson placed sixth among the women in 36:03. Garritson is only 10 and has been running for four years now.

So that runner who moaned, “I got beat by a 10-year-old girl,” needn’t feel quite so bad.