Low Tide Prime for Christmas Day Race

On Sunday, Dec. 25, runners ran the low tide line in the 3 p.m. 5K Manhattan Beach daytime Yule run. The beautiful Christmas Day 5K run brought out families, Santa hats and a festive air of celebration.

The -1.5 tide gave runners plenty of extra room to skirt the tide line from the Manhattan Beach Pier to 45th Street and back to finish at the pier. Participants were given T-shirts and hats to mark the occasion.

With two different runs, one at 3 p.m. and another at 5:30 p.m., dedicated runners were given the option to choose between running by day or night, and perhaps before or after a Christmas meal.

Rich Gust, 52, of Hermosa Beach won the race in 18:39. The first female to cross the finish line was Cambria Wu, 33, of Torrance, who took second place. The third place finisher in the daytime race was Thomas Demoner, 15, of Rancho Palos Verdes in 20:05, with Richard Borsini, 38, of Redondo Beach taking fourth in 20:37.

Hiro Moriyasu, 65, took fifth in the race in 25:00, claiming first place in his age group. Julien Peterman, 8, of Manhattan Beach was first in his age group and eighth in the 3 p.m. race overall in 23:08.

The evening run was lit by luminaries and glow necklaces worn by runners. 

A report on the evening run will publish later today on Manhattan Beach Patch.

Geoffrey Nielsen contributed to this report.