Los Angeles Marathon

Infobox Athleticrace
bgcolour = orange


imagesize = 200px
caption = Seal of the Los Angeles Marathon
date = February
location = Los Angeles, California
type = Road
distance = Marathon
est = 1986
record = 2:09:25 (M; 14 Mar 1999, Simon Bor); 2:26:11 (F; 6 Mar 2005, Lyubov Denisova)
homepage = www.lamarathon.com

The Los Angeles Marathon is an annual marathon held in Los Angeles, California since 1986. It was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. The race starts at about 8:15AM, and this year the marathon kicked off at Lankershim and Cahuenga near Universal Studios, and runs through Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, the Crenshaw district, and passes by the University of Southern California, as well as several other landmarks. The track is 42.195 km - convert|26.2|mi|km long.

There are more spectators that come out each year than any other marathon (over 1,000,000) and cheer on the 25,000+ runners by name, thanks to personalized bibs, which were introduced in 2003. SRLA's colors in 2007 were white, black, and teal.

The 22^nd Los Angeles Marathon, run on March 4, 2007, featured a new course that begins at Universal Studios Hollywood and runs through "globally recognizable landmarks" in the Los Angeles area. For the first time, the race entered Boyle Heights on the East Side of Los Angeles, before heading back to the finish line downtown. The XXIII marathon took place on March 2, 2008.

On September 25, 2008, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt completed a deal to acquire operating rights to the Los Angeles Marathon. The basic course will remain the same, however the date for the XXIV Marathon was moved to Feb. 16, 2009, Presidents' Day.

Awards

The first-place male and female athletes are awarded a brand-new Honda Accord V6 sedan as well as $35,000.

Starting in 2004, elite women have been given a headstart, in what is known as the "Banco Popular Challenge", which awards $100,000 to the runner who crosses the finish line first. Since 2005, the lead given to the women has been derived by the difference between the men's and women's course records. So far in its three-year history, the elite women have won the challenge two times, in 2004 by Tatyana Pozdnyakova, and in 2006 by Lidiya Grigoryeva, both Russians.

Top Finishers

Ages of top finishers in the Masters category are given in parentheses.

Note 1: From New Caledonia, a territory of France.

Legacy Runners

As of March 2007, there were 254 runners that have completed every Los Angeles Marathon since the first race was run in 1986. The 22nd Los Angeles Marathon was held March 4, 2007 on a brand new course that started near Universal Studios and finished in downtown Los Angeles in front of the library. This was the first point-to-point course in this marathon's history.

The term Legacy runners is defined as runners that have completed all the Los Angeles Marathons. Their numbers decrease year by year but there remains a group that is approximately 10 times larger than that of any other major marathon.

Deaths

* 2006 - Raul Reyna, age 53 (Heart attack at mile 24)
* 2006 - James Leone, age 61 (Heart attack at mile 3)
* 1990 - William McKinney, age 59 (Heart failure at mile 21)

External links

* [http://www.lamarathon.com/ Los Angeles Marathon]
* [http://www.runtri.com/2007/03/05/los-angeles-marathon-2007-photos/ 2007 Los Angeles Marathon Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.devondelapp.com/weblog/?entry=226767 Los Angeles Marathon photo gallery]
* [http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1308131 2000-2007 Results (source of ages of masters winners)]
* [http://www.race360.com/marathon/races/detail.asp?eventid=12104 2007 Results (source of masters winners 2005-2007)]
* [http://www.athlinks.com/results/9036/12260/Los-Angeles-Marathon-2006-Marathon.aspx 2006 Results]
* [http://www.athlinks.com/results/10642/14606/Los-Angeles-Marathon-2005-RUN-MARATHON.aspx 2005 Results]
* [http://www.athlinks.com/results/8785/11848/Los-Angeles-Marathon-2004-Run-26-2Mi.aspx 2004 Results]
* [http://www.athlinks.com/results/8785/11848/Los-Angeles-Marathon-2004-Run-26-2Mi.aspx 2003 Results]
* [http://www.athlinks.com/results/16405/23318/Honda-City-of-Los-Angeles-Marathon-2000-Marathon.aspx 2000 Results]

References