The Reebok Aggies are set to win the 1995 men's centipede title and best the first woman on May 21 at the Bay to Breakers. This year's Reebok Aggie centipede is being sponsored by PowerBar and is named the PowerBar PowerPede. "Last year's race will be hard to top," said team captain, Joe Rubio. "We shook a novice Nike centipede hailing from Portland on Hayes Street Hill, then dueled with woman's winner, Tecla Laroupe, for several miles." "Fortunately, we kept intact our perfect record of victories over the first woman and overtook Laroupe in the last two miles."

This year's team has many returning members from last year and consists of five past Marathon Olympic Trials competitors and one Olympian, Mark Conover. Mark competed in the 1988 Seoul Games as a marathoner. Also competing is Rob Anex, a veteran on 18 straight Bay to Breakers and the 1987 Top California finisher. According to Rubio, this year's main threat is not likely to come from other 'pedes, but again the first woman. Delilah Asiago of Kenya is slated to race and could push the PowerPede if she can repeat the 5:06 mile pace she ran atthe recent Spokane's Bloomday 12k, the same distance as Breakers. The fastest Aggie effort ever was a 37:33 effort (5:00 mile pace) in 1991 in which the team finished 14th overall. Look for this year's team in the red and yellow colors of PowerBar.

Aggie prerace and postrace activities are just as infamous as the Aggie's racing history at Bay to Breakers. Saturday night before the race, the insect can be found in Haight Street bars ensuring that the next day's race is all in fun. After the traditional early morning breakfast at Zim's, the Aggies find a few hours of sleep before heading to the Ferry Building for costume fitting. After the race, the pede can be found "absorbing" females on the Polo Field then hot tubbing by the KGO booth before heading to the winner's tent. This year expect an extended visit to the PowerBar booth. "Length, Joy, Togetherness," is the official motto of the centipede at Bay to Breakers and the PowerPede lives up.

The centipede division at the Bay to breakers and the centipede itself was developed by the Aggie Running Club in 1978. This invention produced a vast amount of exposure for the centipede itself and the sponsoring company. This year we are proud to represent PowerBar again. The centipede has competed in such events as the Bay to Breakers, The New York Marathon, the Los Angeles Marathon, the Bridge to Bridge race and the Super Bowl 10k in Redondo Beach California. The current 10k, 12k and marathon men's centipede world records are held by the Aggie Men's Centipede as well as the Bay to Breakers course record. The Reebok Aggie men have won 8 of the last 10 Breakers titles and have been victorious the last 4 consecutive years.

The Reebok Aggie Running Club is a Northern California running club sponsored by Reebok. The club was founded in 1977 by alumni of UC Davis. Today there is no formal connection to UC Davis. Many of the newer members continue to come from UC Davis, but also from Cal Poly SLO, Fresno, San Jose State, and Stanford.

For more information please call Joe Rubio (805) 781-3790 (day).