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The marathon season is upon us and Sunday, March 18 brings the biggest ahead of the Boston Marathon. The Los Angeles Marathon gets underway early Sunday morning and will feature upwards of 25,000 participants. There have been races of marathon-plus length races in LA dating back to 1970. This particular series began in 1986 coming out of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Start time
It will be a bright and early day in Los Angeles for the race. Gear check opens at 4 a.m. PT (7 a.m. ET), start line hospitality opens at 4:45 a.m., and seeded corrals open at 5 a.m. The wheelchair racers will get started at 6 a.m., and the handcrank and all other AWD athletes will start at 6:35 a.m. The elite women start at 6:45 a.m. and the elite men and full field start at 7 a.m. There will be a charity half marathon starting at 8:15 a.m.
How to watch
The race will be televised by KTLA and Channel 5 in the LA area, and streamed live on the L.A. Marathon’s Facebook page. It’s one of the few marathons that offers extensive television coverage.
Course map
The race starts at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine. Runners will go through part of downtown LA before moving northwest up Sunset to Hollywood. They then turn west and make their way through West Hollywood and into Beverly Hills. The course used to run to Santa Monica, but it now turns back near Brentwood and ends in Century City on Santa Monica Boulevard.
The course passes several notable landmarks including the Chinatown Dragon Gate, City Hall, Cathedral of our Lady of Angels, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Capitol Records Tower, Hollywoof and Vine, Grauman’s Chinese Theater, the Chateau Marmount, Whisky a Go Go, The Troubador, Rideo Drive, and Historic Route 66.
You can view the full course at the LA Marathon website with landmarks and elevation levels. Marathon organizers have also provided this list of road closures.
Weather
The temperature near Dodger Stadium when the race starts will be in the mid 50s, per Accuweather. There will be 5 mph winds and 70% humidity and 7% chance of rain.
The temperature in Century City at the finish line when the first runners are likely reaching it will be in the mid-50s moving toward 60. By 11 a.m. when a lot of runners will be finishing, it should be around 60. Rain is expected starting at noon, so runners on the back-end might run into some showers.
Prize money
The men’s and women’s prize pool is the same. The first place man and women each claim $5,000, second place wins $2,500, third place wins $1,000, and four place wins $500. The first US athlete to cross the finish line wins $1,000.
Who won the last race?
Last year, John Korir finished first overall with a time of 2:09:07.13. Among the men, Edwin Kimutai finished second at 2:10:42.66 and Berhanu Bekele Berga finished third at 2:15:10.95. The top three women in the race were Delvine Meringor (2:25:03.27), Antonina Kwambai (2:30:12.88), and Biruktayit Eshetu Degefa (2:31:28.99).
The top American man was Tyler McCandless, who finished fourth overall with a time of 2:15:18. The top American woman was Amanda Phillips, who finished fifth among women with a time of 2:35:07. Both qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Trials Marathon with their results.
Among wheelchair racers, Tyler Byers was the first-place man at 1:49:16.47 and Corey Petersen was the first-place female at 3:23:31.36.