Some Call Barf-Out a Blast; Others Say the Event’s Sick : Leisure: In Hermosa Beach, contestants in the Ironman run, paddle, drink beer and throw up. A councilman is assailed for his participation.

Some Hermosa Beach residents just can’t stomach a popular endurance event that requires contestants to run a mile, paddle a mile on a surfboard and then chug a six-pack of beer without vomiting.

The annual Fourth of July Ironman competition, which has a special award for “the most picturesque barf,” sparked an uproar this year after critics learned that the beer-drinking phase of the off-beat triathlon took place on the beach in violation of city laws.

“It was gross to me,” said Richard Sullivan, a retired aerospace engineer who saw a tape of the event on public access cable television two weeks ago. “How would you like to see bodily fluids all over a public beach? I got sick.”

Drawing further controversy was the involvement of Hermosa Beach Councilman Robert (Bergie) Benz, who helped sponsor the event and co-produced the 20-minute video. Challenged by Sullivan at Tuesday’s council meeting, Benz acknowledged that he placed second in the race.

“It’s more than just getting blitzed really quickly,” Benz said. “It’s seeing friends you haven’t seen in a long time. I saw my friend Ducky. I hadn’t seen him in about four years. And I saw my old roommate Dr. John. I hadn’t seen him in about a year.

“I’m not going to deny any wrongdoing here,” Benz added. “Yeah, I drank on the beach. And I have drank, drunk--what is it, drunken on?--drank on the beach, and so that’s it.”

Though police said they have no plans to cite Benz for his apparent misdemeanor violation, jousting over the issue appears likely to continue.

Victoria Fouce, a Hermosa Beach resident who called police the day of the event to complain that drunken contestants were urinating on neighbors’ homes, wants the council to ban the beer-drinking leg of the contest in future years.

And Sullivan, who believes that some of the participants may have been under-age, is planning to ask the district attorney to investigate the matter. He also complained that Benz’s role in the event could have left the city open to lawsuits.

Benz described Sullivan as a “fun-hater” and said he knew of no minors who participated in the Ironman competition. The organizers, he pointed out, do not provide contestants with any beer; they bring their own.

His video, which features several lingering shots of the breasts of bikini-clad women, suggests the flavor of this year’s Ironman. To kick off the competition, Benz is shown using a megaphone to lead the revelers in the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

Contestants, sporting entry numbers written in markers on their upper arms, then take off for the running and paddling portion of the contest. When they return, the water-logged competitors are seen stumbling onto the beach, where their bags of beer await them.

The flip-tops begin to pop, and the alcohol begins to flow. One man, identified only by the 12 on his arm, is seen pouring two cans of Budweiser Light down his throat. Soon, faces start to look pinched, if not slightly green. One contestant spits beer foam on another’s back. Then the vomiting starts.

In years past, Benz and others said, the beer drinking phase of the competition has taken place on private property. But this year, the woman who gave the party-goers permission to use her home for the post-race drinking and vomiting backed out at the last minute. That’s when organizers decided to move that part of the event onto the beach.

Toward the end of the video, two police officers break up the crowd, which swelled to about 200, but make no arrests.

Fouce said the Ironman ruined a Fourth of July party she had planned to throw at her parents’ house. She said nearly 40 drunken participants climbed over her parents’ front wall and asked to use the bathroom. The less polite simply urinated on the houses of her parents’ next-door neighbors, she said.

“They just mobbed us,” said Fouce, who is assistant chief deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich. “It was so out of control. I was frightened. All we could do is try to keep people off our property. And then suddenly, people were pouring into our yard.”

Hermosa Beach Police Chief Val Straser said the officers decided the crowd was too big for them to issue any citations. Drinking alcohol on the beach is a misdemeanor violation punishable by a $271 fine.

Straser said he had no plans to cite Benz, despite the councilman’s admission that he violated the law. “I don’t have the evidence; I would still have to produce the alcohol,” the police chief said.

In a report to the City Council on Tuesday, Straser noted that no fights, injuries, medical emergencies or property damage occurred because of the event. However, he recommended that the city develop a plan for next year’s Ironman Competition, in case organizers do not comply with city laws. Council members, including Benz, agreed.

“This has to be put into perspective in the beach community,” Straser said. “We’re fortunate in what we’re dealing with today, compared to what used to happen on the beach on July 4th years ago. It’s almost local folklore, the riots we used to have. . . . This was pretty self-contained.”

Several owners of elegant beachfront homes along The Strand near 30th Street, where organizers stage the Ironman, expressed strong support for the competition.

“Every year, it’s just been such a blast,” said restaurant owner Lisa Newman-Pittera, 27, who in 1986 played host to the drinking portion of the contest in her yard. “It’s a riot; people all clap when someone throws up. It’s pretty prestigious around here if you can enter the Ironman.”