Sport Today

I'm trying to get info regarding the San Diego
Half Marathon to be held January 20th.  I have
an adverti***t and an entry form, but some
very critical information is left out.  Does
anyone have answers to the following questions?

1.  Where is the start/finish?  The entry form
says Carlsbad, but that's not very specific.
Is it next to Legoland or the Palomar airport?

2.  What time does the race start?  Again the
entry form or adverti***t does not say.

3.  Where do you pick up your race number?  The
brochure says at the "Health and Fitness Expo"
but fails to say where this Expo is to be found.

4.  Not important, but it sounds like the
"San Diego Marathon" is not being held in San
Diego (the city), so why do they call it the San
Diego marathon?  Is the New York Marathon held in
Newark, the L.A. marathon in Long Beach, or the
Portland marathon in Vancouver?  (If I'm wrong
about this then just ignore the question.)

Oh, by the way, I tried accessing the web site
for the marathon, but I get so many error messages
from the Opera 5.11 browser due to illegal cookies
being set, that the site is unusable.

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The Marathon starts and finishes in Plaza Camino Real Shopping Center
which is off of Hwy. 78 and El Camino Real.  Race start and ends there
and is also where the Expo will be and the pick up for numbers, etc.

For starting times depending on when you expect to finish check out:
http://SportToday.org/

At one time Tim Murphy  and Lyn Flanagan were partners in In Motion.
Somewhere they decided to go their own ways so Tim started Elite Racing
which does the Arturo Barrios 5 or 10K run in Chula Vista, the Carlsbad
5K, and also the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego, Country Music
Marathon in Nashville, the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in ***ia
City.

In Motion owned the name San Diego Marathon and had rights to it, but
San Diego City decided not to let them run the marathon through San
Diego proper.  So looking for a venue, Carlsbad was willing to be the
sponsoring city.    So the San Diego Marathon is in San Diego County
and is run in Carlsbad which is a city in the county.  

When the Rock and Roll started, I believe that Elite was negotiating
with the city about having a marathon in the city.  The RnR generates
about $40+ million in revenues for San Diego.  The rumor was that Elite
started to advertise the RnR in '97 and early '98 and came to the city
with 7 or 8 thousand applicants  plus several more thousand pledged for
the Team in Training.  

While it started 38 minutes late and caused a great deal of hard
feelings among many marathoners, the number of starters was over 18,000
runners with something like 46% first time marathoners and the first
marathon that had more women than men marathoners.  That was in part
due to the 7 or 8 thousand runners for Leukemia.

I was involved from August of '98 to June of '99 as a marathoner and
someone representing the running community in monthly meetings that
involved every agency and service from  city, county, state, police,
highway patrol, fire departments, emergency medical techs, amateur
radio & search and rescue,  city public events, along with Elite Racing
to make sure that every base and situation would be covered so that the
second RnR would go off without a hitch.    Truly it did.  The problem
was at the finish where they hadn't enough phones to call family and
friends about where to meet.  There was only one gate open for traffic
in and out of the Naval Training Center, so some people had to wait on
buses for an hour or more waiting to get to the parking lot by the
airport to get to their cars...which was a 15 or 20 minute
walk/run...depending on how one felt after their marathon.  Elite
Racing and all the people involved have worked together to make it a
marathoner's good experience.

Regarding San Diego Marathon, Lyn and her team have made the San Diego
Marathon a marathoner's marathon by catering to all that needed to be
done to make the event a total positive experience.  There are only
3000 marathoners at maximum.  

happening.  She and her team have been there to make the San Diego
Marathon one for the marathoners.  ...and a great event for those
running the other events.

In health and on the run,

Ozzie Gontang
Maintainer rec.running FAQ
Director, Super Four Support Team and Psyching Team
supporting the San Diego Marthon since 1988
supporting the RnR Marathon since 1998