On Feb. 3, hundreds of Encinitas residents, young and old, gathered in the morning near the parking lot of Moonlight Beach to celebrate the Cardiff Kook and the many creative opportunities it provides in the second annual Cardiff Kook Run. Participants dressed in their favorite Kook costumes and ran either a 5 or 10k.
SDA students also participated in the event, donning their cross-country uniforms, to support the race. “I thought it would be fun to race along the coast and I wanted to join the community in celebrating the Cardiff Kook,” said junior Janine Fisher who ran the 5k along with juniors Ben Hoffman and Sam Fierro.
Hoffman, who got 10th place overall and 3rd in his age group, said, “I prepared by running almost every day for over three years at an average distance of about six miles.”
Although these students are serious runners, many who participated in the event were not. Before the run began, a multitude of inappropriately dressed (for a race) participants gathered around the starting line. A group of elderly women in magic carpet costumes danced sporadically while a bearded Moses guided a herd of “holy” sheep (women dressed in fluffy, cotton-balled vests).
Before the judges decided on the winners of the costume contest, the participants had to prove their dedication to the Kook by running along the coast while simultaneously wearing the worst possible exercise clothing. The tights worn by a lanky superman, however, undoubtedly provided better mobility than the restrictive boxes adorned by a few teenagers disguised as robots.
At 9 a.m.., at the signal of the starter, the 5k runners shoved, stumbled, and sprinted their way across the starting line in what can only be described as a mass migration of Kooks. It was in this moment of hysteria and chaos that one might realize a few fundamental things. First: Encinitas is a strange place. Second: It is this complete and utter strangeness that makes it one of the best cities to live in.
Where else is a statue, designed to be a stationary, singular sculpture, transformed into a creative outlet and source of entertainment that never stops producing art? Not only does the Cardiff Kook represent the surf culture of our small beach town, but it also represents the “Kook” in all of us.
“I love how people use the statue to express their unique, artistic ideas,” said Fisher.
This was the communal feeling created by the run. What started as a mad, pell-mell dash ended in the unity of a strange yet proudly unique community epitomized by the Cardiff Kook.
As runner Laila Al-Shamma put it, “We’ve taken a silly looking statue and made it our own.”