Record number of runners at L.A. Marathon

A Kenyan who was running only her second marathon won the women’s division overall and earned a $100,000 bonus for being the first to cross the finish line Sunday during the 25th annual L.A. Marathon.

The 26.2-mile race charted its course through several alignments of Route 66 and finished at the Mother Road’s western endpoint at Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. Racers also were funneled to Santa Monica Pier, about a block away from the finish line; the pier is the symbolic end of Route 66.

This video, posted one day before the race, shows all of the course’s visual attractions for runners:

According to one media account, the marathon drew more than 20,000 entrants, a record for the event. Race organizers had hoped to boost attendance by charting the course through numerous Los Angeles landmarks, including Route 66.

Here’s a time-lapse video of the marathon passing through Silver Lake. It doesn’t look like much in the beginning, but watch the number of runners swell:

Edna Kiplagat of Kenya earned a total of $145,000 and a Honda Insight hybrid car by winning the women’s race in 2:25:38. She had run only one marathon previously, 25 minutes slower than her effort on Sunday. She earned a $100,000 bonus by finishing the race first; female runners had an 18-minute head start.

Here’s a video showing how Kiplagat did it. She took control on a hill at the 20-mile mark:

Wesley Korir of Kenya won his second consecutive L.A. Marathon in 2:09:19.

Korir told the Los Angeles Times that the course probably could produce world-record times (it’s downhill the final five miles). However, because the men’s field of top was bunched, he said that he and the others had to remain conservative in their pacing.

In this video, you can see how tightly grouped the runners were at the 40-second mark. The rest of the clip shows Korir pulling away:

Amanda McGrory of Savoy, Ill., a Paralympics gold medalist in 2008, won the women’s wheelchair race in 1:56:35. Krige Schabort of Cedartown, Ga., a silver medalist at the 2004 Paralympics, won the men’s wheelchair race in 1:31:51.

Race organizers were still in the process of posting race results Sunday night. They should be found here.

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