Dipsea Generations
San Francisco, California | Film Short
Sport, Documentary
Trail running is disappointingly homogenous, yet the Bay Area is home to a diverse population and some of the best trails in the US. We will follow youth from across the Bay as they take on the iconic Dipsea race with its unique handicap start that makes it ripe for improving access to the sport.
Dipsea Generations
San Francisco, California | Film Short
Sport, Documentary
1 Campaigns | California, United States
Green Light
This campaign raised $31,985 for production. Follow the filmmaker to receive future updates on this project.
125 supporters | followers
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Trail running is disappointingly homogenous, yet the Bay Area is home to a diverse population and some of the best trails in the US. We will follow youth from across the Bay as they take on the iconic Dipsea race with its unique handicap start that makes it ripe for improving access to the sport.
About The Project
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why the Dipsea?
The Dipsea is not only the oldest trail race in the US, it’s perhaps the most unique. Since its first running in 1905, runners toe the line at the post office in Mill Valley and race the fastest route they can find of stairs and single track to the finish line 7 miles at Stinson Beach. But here’s the catch. The handicapped race starts the 1500 runners with the youngest children and the oldest adults stacked at the front, and the fittest, fastest men are at the back, released 25 minutes later. Everyone else starts in waves in between. The NY Times profiled the race in the aptly named article, “The Dipsea: A Trail Race where you’re either the Hunter or Hunted” (NYT & the Dipsea). Over the decades, winners have ranged from an 8 year old girl to a 72 year old man, and has this great element of equalization regardless of age and gender, and is a race that instills the love of trail running for current and future generations. Through this project, we want to showcase the rich history of the Dipsea race, but also use it as a platform to make trail running in the Bay Area a more inclusive and welcoming space for people from all backgrounds.
What is our goal?
The film project's goal is to highlight different youth running programs throughout the Bay Area and bring these youth together to race in the 114th year of the iconic Dipsea trail race. Exploring these young people’s stories and relationships with running will enable us to explore the deep and complex history of Bay Area trail running while staying grounded in a celebration of the next generation’s vision and passion for the sport. The Dipsea is the oldest trail race in the US and serves as the perfect culmination for these stories because of the race’s unique handicap system that encourages healthy competition across age and gender. Also, the race’s history raises questions of how inclusive the event (and sport generally) actually is and how it could be improved to truly be a gathering of the entire Bay Area. The Bay Area is one of the most affluent regions in the world and trail running is traditionally a sport of the affluent. We want to address that by highlighting opportunities for kids of all backgrounds to use running as a way to build confidence, self-esteem, and an appreciation for the outdoors, and to help build an inclusive, healthy, and prosperous trail running community here in the Bay Area.
Who are we following?
The project lead and main interviewer/host will be professional mountain and ultrarunner, Paddy O’Leary. Ever since finding the sport through the community fitness group, the November Project, Paddy has strived to focus his running career on introducing new people to our sport, and uplifting those around him. This project will focus on several youth runners from different clubs, schools and non-profit organizations in the Bay Area. We will utilize the backdrop of Paddy & the kids preparing for the race along with interviews with race participants, old and young, to tell the story of the different organizations bringing Bay Area kids into the outdoors and the sport of trail running.
Our film team already has existing relationships with these organizations through previous fundraising and coaching collaborations. Working with these groups, we will identify four runners from 8 to 17 years old and follow their preparation and participation in the race.
- Dipsea Kidz, Marin County
- Mt Madonna Challenge, Gilroy, Santa Clare County
- Mount Eden High School, Alameda County
Where is the funding going, and what if we pass our target?
This funding will help to fund the production of our project - the minimum we need to bring Dipsea Generations from pre-production to editing and release. As it stands, we are a team of 4, but we'll also be acquiring archival footage and bringing collaborators onboard for sound editing and composing. If we raise over 100% of our target, we'll have a greater opportunity to expand on this project and hire additional staff and collaborators. With additional funding beyond, we can do the following:
- Bring more of our crew along on filming days. This allows us to capture more angles and more happenings to bring more visual depth to our film.
- Capturing additional in-depth interviews with legends of the Dipsea Race. Each extra interview will take more time, but this way we can use the project as a way to preserve these stories for the future.
- Hiring a professional coloring studio to make our film pop.
- Entry into film festivals and tours to bring this story to the masses.
- And more. We'll release updates through the 60 days of fundraising as we near and hopefully surpass our target.
We are also in discussion with companies about getting involved as sponsors of the project. If your company is interested in partnering on the project, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Archival footage
Costs $1,500
Licensing historical race footage to bring the rich past of the Dipsea Race into our film.
Day long shoots of youth programs
Costs $9,000
Eight day-long shoots filming the youth programs with a one-person crew.
In depth historical interviews
Costs $5,000
Conducting four deep-dive interviews with coaches, youths, and Dipsea legends to preserve vital context.
Race day coverage
Costs $3,000
Filming the 2025 Dipsea race with a 3-person crew for action-packed, immersive storytelling.
Editing
Costs $10,000
Crafting the final story with precision and creativity in post-production.
Composing
Costs $1,500
Creating an original score to evoke emotion and bring the film’s heart to life.
Share this update!
About This Team
Paddy O’Leary is a trail runner with The North Face with a penchant for telling stories about the communities that served him so well throughout his running career. The Dipsea itself is a race that always drew him close since he first heard about it. He took part in the race for the first time in 2019, coming 499th (quite impressive for a debut runner) and has worked his way up to 10th, 2nd, and then recently winning the 2023 version of the race.
Nicole Amyx (Nicole Amyx Film) is a Mexican-American documentary filmmaker and editor who grew up in Marin County. The Dipsea race has played a huge part of her life since an early age. Her dad, Tim, instilled in her a love of this race and of filmmaking, with Tim making many highlight films of the race over the past 40 years. Her own 2020 short film, “Finding Her Stride”, described her own journey into ultra-running following the path of her mother, Florencia Gascon-Amyx.
Ryan Scura (Dooster Film), have worked with Paddy on a number of projects, including the award-winning documentary on the Irish mountain running community, “Coming Home - Ag Teacht Abhaile”, the profile of San Francisco’s urban trail network, “Urban Oasis: A Love Letter to San Francisco”, and the documentary on the November Project community, “Showing Up”. Ryan has participated in the Dipsea himself, but is playing the long game to take the family title with his kids, Quinn (4yo) and Fern (2yo), only a few years out from the race.
Tony DiPasquale (Tony With A Sony) has collaborated with Paddy and Dooster Film on many projects, and has both raced and photographed the Dipsea over the years. More recently he worked with TNF on an exciting profile of the preparation and participation of TNF athletes, Katie Schide, Coree Woltering, Rod Farvard and Jiasheng Shen, in the 2023 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Race. Tony has also worked with Broken Arrow Skyrace and the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon to create a series of personal film profiles on participants from all walks of life across Northern California. This included "The Next Generation", this heartfelt feature on one of coaches to be included in our film, José Cruz.
We have colleagues and collaborators whom we would love to bring onboard - experts in sound editing, musicians, graphic artists, etc. If we pass our initial 100% goal, we will have the capacity to expand our team. See Our Story page where we dive further into what we can do if we surpass our funding goal.
Current Team
Incentives
- The Story
- Wishlist
- Updates
- The Team
- Community
Mission Statement
The Story
Why the Dipsea?
The Dipsea is not only the oldest trail race in the US, it’s perhaps the most unique. Since its first running in 1905, runners toe the line at the post office in Mill Valley and race the fastest route they can find of stairs and single track to the finish line 7 miles at Stinson Beach. But here’s the catch. The handicapped race starts the 1500 runners with the youngest children and the oldest adults stacked at the front, and the fittest, fastest men are at the back, released 25 minutes later. Everyone else starts in waves in between. The NY Times profiled the race in the aptly named article, “The Dipsea: A Trail Race where you’re either the Hunter or Hunted” (NYT & the Dipsea). Over the decades, winners have ranged from an 8 year old girl to a 72 year old man, and has this great element of equalization regardless of age and gender, and is a race that instills the love of trail running for current and future generations. Through this project, we want to showcase the rich history of the Dipsea race, but also use it as a platform to make trail running in the Bay Area a more inclusive and welcoming space for people from all backgrounds.
What is our goal?
The film project's goal is to highlight different youth running programs throughout the Bay Area and bring these youth together to race in the 114th year of the iconic Dipsea trail race. Exploring these young people’s stories and relationships with running will enable us to explore the deep and complex history of Bay Area trail running while staying grounded in a celebration of the next generation’s vision and passion for the sport. The Dipsea is the oldest trail race in the US and serves as the perfect culmination for these stories because of the race’s unique handicap system that encourages healthy competition across age and gender. Also, the race’s history raises questions of how inclusive the event (and sport generally) actually is and how it could be improved to truly be a gathering of the entire Bay Area. The Bay Area is one of the most affluent regions in the world and trail running is traditionally a sport of the affluent. We want to address that by highlighting opportunities for kids of all backgrounds to use running as a way to build confidence, self-esteem, and an appreciation for the outdoors, and to help build an inclusive, healthy, and prosperous trail running community here in the Bay Area.
Who are we following?
The project lead and main interviewer/host will be professional mountain and ultrarunner, Paddy O’Leary. Ever since finding the sport through the community fitness group, the November Project, Paddy has strived to focus his running career on introducing new people to our sport, and uplifting those around him. This project will focus on several youth runners from different clubs, schools and non-profit organizations in the Bay Area. We will utilize the backdrop of Paddy & the kids preparing for the race along with interviews with race participants, old and young, to tell the story of the different organizations bringing Bay Area kids into the outdoors and the sport of trail running.
Our film team already has existing relationships with these organizations through previous fundraising and coaching collaborations. Working with these groups, we will identify four runners from 8 to 17 years old and follow their preparation and participation in the race.
- Dipsea Kidz, Marin County
- Mt Madonna Challenge, Gilroy, Santa Clare County
- Mount Eden High School, Alameda County
Where is the funding going, and what if we pass our target?
This funding will help to fund the production of our project - the minimum we need to bring Dipsea Generations from pre-production to editing and release. As it stands, we are a team of 4, but we'll also be acquiring archival footage and bringing collaborators onboard for sound editing and composing. If we raise over 100% of our target, we'll have a greater opportunity to expand on this project and hire additional staff and collaborators. With additional funding beyond, we can do the following:
- Bring more of our crew along on filming days. This allows us to capture more angles and more happenings to bring more visual depth to our film.
- Capturing additional in-depth interviews with legends of the Dipsea Race. Each extra interview will take more time, but this way we can use the project as a way to preserve these stories for the future.
- Hiring a professional coloring studio to make our film pop.
- Entry into film festivals and tours to bring this story to the masses.
- And more. We'll release updates through the 60 days of fundraising as we near and hopefully surpass our target.
We are also in discussion with companies about getting involved as sponsors of the project. If your company is interested in partnering on the project, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected].
Wishlist
Use the WishList to Pledge cash and Loan items - or - Make a pledge by selecting an Incentive directly.
Cash Pledge
Costs $0
Archival footage
Costs $1,500
Licensing historical race footage to bring the rich past of the Dipsea Race into our film.
Day long shoots of youth programs
Costs $9,000
Eight day-long shoots filming the youth programs with a one-person crew.
In depth historical interviews
Costs $5,000
Conducting four deep-dive interviews with coaches, youths, and Dipsea legends to preserve vital context.
Race day coverage
Costs $3,000
Filming the 2025 Dipsea race with a 3-person crew for action-packed, immersive storytelling.
Editing
Costs $10,000
Crafting the final story with precision and creativity in post-production.
Composing
Costs $1,500
Creating an original score to evoke emotion and bring the film’s heart to life.
Share this update!
About This Team
Paddy O’Leary is a trail runner with The North Face with a penchant for telling stories about the communities that served him so well throughout his running career. The Dipsea itself is a race that always drew him close since he first heard about it. He took part in the race for the first time in 2019, coming 499th (quite impressive for a debut runner) and has worked his way up to 10th, 2nd, and then recently winning the 2023 version of the race.
Nicole Amyx (Nicole Amyx Film) is a Mexican-American documentary filmmaker and editor who grew up in Marin County. The Dipsea race has played a huge part of her life since an early age. Her dad, Tim, instilled in her a love of this race and of filmmaking, with Tim making many highlight films of the race over the past 40 years. Her own 2020 short film, “Finding Her Stride”, described her own journey into ultra-running following the path of her mother, Florencia Gascon-Amyx.
Ryan Scura (Dooster Film), have worked with Paddy on a number of projects, including the award-winning documentary on the Irish mountain running community, “Coming Home - Ag Teacht Abhaile”, the profile of San Francisco’s urban trail network, “Urban Oasis: A Love Letter to San Francisco”, and the documentary on the November Project community, “Showing Up”. Ryan has participated in the Dipsea himself, but is playing the long game to take the family title with his kids, Quinn (4yo) and Fern (2yo), only a few years out from the race.
Tony DiPasquale (Tony With A Sony) has collaborated with Paddy and Dooster Film on many projects, and has both raced and photographed the Dipsea over the years. More recently he worked with TNF on an exciting profile of the preparation and participation of TNF athletes, Katie Schide, Coree Woltering, Rod Farvard and Jiasheng Shen, in the 2023 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Race. Tony has also worked with Broken Arrow Skyrace and the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon to create a series of personal film profiles on participants from all walks of life across Northern California. This included "The Next Generation", this heartfelt feature on one of coaches to be included in our film, José Cruz.
We have colleagues and collaborators whom we would love to bring onboard - experts in sound editing, musicians, graphic artists, etc. If we pass our initial 100% goal, we will have the capacity to expand our team. See Our Story page where we dive further into what we can do if we surpass our funding goal.