FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Long Beach Marathon Celebrates '40 Years Running' Next Weekend
A sold-out field of over 22,000 runners set to participate in one
of the West Coast's Largest Races
LONG BEACH, Calif. - September 27, 2024 - The Long Beach Marathon and Half
Marathon, Southern California's premier fall marathon, is gearing up for
its 40th anniversary running next weekend, October 4-6, 2024.
The first Long Beach Marathon was held in 1982, the brainchild of local
YMCA members who wanted to bring a marathon to their own city amidst the
running boom of the late 1970s. They traveled across the United States,
knocking off marathons when one of them came up with an idea.
"We should have one in our city," remembers former race director Joe
Carlson, who has lived all 73 years of his life in the City of Long Beach.
"Long Beach is a great city, and running is a part of it. There's a rich
history here."
Probably no one is more qualified to share that history than Carlson. He
was the Long Beach Marathon race director for nine years, from 1984 through
1992. He said about 1,600 runners participated in the first race.
Now, the event includes a two-day Health & Fitness expo, marathon,
half-marathon, a bike tour and Saturday's Aquarium of the Pacific 5K. A
sold-out field of 22,000 runners are registered to participate.
Carlson recalls there being "two big weather events" in the race's history.
For one, the race negotiated an airline sponsor and held the Pacific Rim
Marathon Championship, with runners coming from as far away as Taiwan,
Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. The first year of the Pacific
Rim Marathon Championship, runners were greeted by an apocalyptic whipping
wind.
"Everything was falling over," said Carlson. "All the tents and mile marker
signs."
Carlson doesn't remember the exact year, but he thinks it was 1986, the
first year the race was moved from February to May and race day temperature
climbed to nearly triple digits. Interestingly, Carlson and fellow
organizers prepared so thoroughly for the heat, with increased ice and
water stations, that there were few problems.
"We had fewer medical issues that year than any other year," he said. "But
it was scary. It was hot early."
Sadly, the two men who succeeded Carlson as race director died during their
tenure as the head organizer. One of them was Bob Fernald, the other Dr.
Jack Rose. Carlson and Rose traveled to the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Rose
brought a Coleman lantern with him and lit it with the Olympic flame. Then
he brought the lantern home and lit his hot water heater with the lantern.
"So," said Carlson, "he reasoned his home was heated by the Olympic flame."
Rose would go on to teach a class entitled History of the Olympics at Long
Beach State University. There's another Olympic connection to the Long
Beach Marathon. Famed pole vaulter Bob Seagren created a production company
that helped stage the race for decades.
There was about a three-year gap in the mid 1990s when the Long Beach
Marathon was not held. But according to Carlson, about a dozen men ran
26.2-miles each year during the gap to keep their local marathon streak
alive.
The race continues to provide a significant fundraising platform for dozens
of charities and non-profit organizations, including Team Challenge in
2024, which has raised more than $150,000 for the Crohn's and Colitis
Foundation. Long Beach resident Rocio Castrillon, 47, has been battling
Crohn's disease for more than 20 years and will walk the event's 5K.
Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic
inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Castrillon completed a half
marathon less than six months after she was diagnosed with Crohn's.
"When I got the diagnosis I said, 'Sure, I can go down this dark hole or do
the opposite and find a positive.' For me, (being active) is the only way
to keep living through a chronic disease," said Castrillon. "The biggest
thing is having the visibility, to continue raising awareness about what
these diseases are and that people can still go out there and run races
despite the disease."
Carlson, meanwhile, looks back with civic pride at the marathon's impact.
"You look at the people volunteering, the sponsorship," he said. "It was
very much a community event and if you come down to Marina Green next
weekend, you'll see that it still very much is."
For more information or to view a complete race weekend schedule of events,
visit RunLongBeach.com.
About the Long Beach Marathon
The 40th running of the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon will take
place on the weekend of October 4-6, 2024. Race weekend will welcome more
than 22,000 runners with perfect Southern California weather and fast and
flat courses. Participants can choose from four different events including
the marathon, half-marathon, 20-mile Bike Tour, or the Aquarium of the
Pacific 5k. The event features two days of races along the Southern
California coast, offering participants iconic waterfront views of
Shoreline Village and the Queen Mary Hotel. For more information about the
race or to register for the event, visit RunLongBeach.com.
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