The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, since 1986. The

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

was inspired by the success of the

1984 Summer Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

hosted in Los Angeles. It is one of the five largest marathons in the country, with 26,000 participants. Since 2020, the event has been sponsored by Asics and is officially titled the Los Angeles Marathon presented by ASICS.

History

Municipal Games era

In 1970, a race of length was held in Los Angeles. In 1971, the race was lengthened to the distance of a standard marathon – 26 miles 385 yards – and known as the "Griffith Park Marathon". It was held at the same time as the Municipal Games. The 1972 race was known as the "Municipal Games Marathon", while races from 1973 to 1977 were known as the "Los Angeles Marathon", and the 1978 edition was known as the "Los Angeles Police Marathon". The

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

(ARRS) has no record of any races in this series after 1978.

Los Angeles Lite era

The inaugural race in 1981, known as the "Jordache Los Angeles Pro-Am Marathon", was run with two sections, a professional section with 100,000 USD in prize money, and an amateur section. Both the 1982 and 1983 races were known as the "Los Angeles Lite Marathon". In 1983, runners were misdirected, but the course was changed to ensure that finishers ran at least a marathon.NMN May 1933
mastershistory.org p. 25 ARRS has no record of any races in this series after 1983.

Current era

The inaugural marathon of the current series was first held in 1986. In 1997, Nadezhda Ilyina crossed the finish line first, but was disqualified for cutting the course through a service station. The victory went to Ilyina's friend and first-time marathoner

Lornah Kiplagat Lornah Kiplagat (born 1 May 1974) is a Dutch professional Long-distance track event, long-distance Running, runner. She was born in Keiyo District, Kabiemit, Rift Valley Province, Kenya and moved to the Netherlands in 1999. She gained Dutch cit ...

. Since 2008, the operating rights to the Los Angeles Marathon are the property of former

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

owner,

Frank McCourt Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book '' Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. Early life and education Frank M ...

. The race date for 2009 was moved to

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

, , because the city council wished "to limit the impact on Sunday morning church services". After runner criticism due to the increased probability of warmer weather, the race date was moved back to March for the 2010 race. The 2016 edition was held on to coincide with the U.S. Olympic Trials for the marathon held in Los Angeles the day before. The 34th edition of the marathon took place on March 24, 2019. Despite Los Angeles County having issued a state of emergency four days prior due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and criticism from other public officials including councilman Mike Bonin, mayor Eric Garcetti allowed the 2020 marathon to continue as scheduled on March 8, 2020. The 2021 edition of the race was postponed to November 7 due to the coronavirus, pandemic, with all registrants given the option of running the race virtually or transferring their entry to 2022, 2023, or 2024. In 2022, the marathon chase was revived, after a 7 year absence after its 10 year stint. The chase involves both women and men elite fields running to reach the finish line first. However, the women are given a head start based on an assessment on both fields and their personal bests. For example, the 2024 edition featured a 17 minute head start favoring the women. Along with a $6,000 prize for the winner of each gender field, the winner of the chase earns a $10,000 bonus.

Course

The original route in 1986 started at Exposition Park and ended at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

. The route around the turn of the millennium both started and ended in

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

. From 2007 to 2008, it started south of Universal City and ended in Downtown Los Angeles. The iconic "Stadium to Sea" route started at

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a ballpark in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a ...

and ended in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. The course was changed in the middle of 2020 to end at Avenue of the Stars in

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of downtown Los Angeles, Cent ...

due to "dramatically increased costs quoted by the city of Santa Monica" to continue hosting the finish there.

Community impact

In 2014, the Los Angeles Marathon charity program continued its tremendous growth as 91 participating charities combined to raise a cumulative total $3.7 million.

Students Run LA

In 1987, six students at

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles (), or East L.A., is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) situated within Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, East Los Angeles is designated as ...

’ Boyle Heights High School enrolled in a marathon training program offered by teacher Harry Shabazian. On March 4, 1990, two dozen teachers from around the city joined the three co-founders, with students from their respective schools, and together, they all ran in the Los Angeles Marathon V. In 1993, Students Run LA spun off from LAUSD and became an independent 501(c)(3) organization. SRLA continues to provide its after-school mentoring and training program to all students of grades 7-12 for free. For the 6 months leading to the marathon, SRLA grants free entry and transport to its participants in races of increasing length, a 5K, 10K, 15K, two

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

s, and a 30K. Students in the program receive free training shirts, running shoes, marathon uniforms, along with race expenses. Today, more than 3,200 middle and high school students, from 185 school and community programs, train alongside 550 volunteer leaders, and 99% of students complete the LA Marathon. Inspired by the success of SRLA, a pilot project was begun with the Montreal Marathon and Students on the run (Étudiants dans la course) was created with the first objective to complete the September 2010 Montreal Marathon. There were 19 students to begin with and 12 completed the 2010 event. The program continues with a new group and a new objective, complete the 2011 event.

Legacy Runners

Each year, the marathon honors Legacy Runners, runners who have finished every Los Angeles Marathon since its inception in 1986. Each Legacy Runner receives a special bib with a permanent bib number. In the 2024 edition, 95 Legacy Runners completed their 1000th mile of the LA Marathon, which was situated at mile 4 of the race.

Television coverage

From 1986 to 2001

KCOP-TV KCOP-TV (channel 13), branded Fox 11 Plus, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet K ...

televised the Los Angeles Marathon, in 2002,

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). The two stations share studios at the ...

, from 2003 to 2007,

KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...

and from 2008 to present,

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

. Since 2017, the event has been carried nationally on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

except in Los Angeles.

Top finishers

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

Notes

References

External links

Los Angeles Marathon
* {{YouTube, user=LosAngelesMarathon, Los Angeles Marathon
2000–2007 Results (source of ages of masters winners)

2007 Results (source of masters winners 2005–2007)

2006 Results

2005 Results

2004 Results

2003 Results

2000 Results
Track and field competitions in Los Angeles Recurring sporting events established in 1986 Foot races in California Sports competitions in Los Angeles Marathons in California Marathons in the United States Annual sporting events in the United States 1986 establishments in California