On Sunday, March 20 the 37th annual Los Angeles (L.A.) Marathon was held in the city of Los Angeles.

Runner Delvine Meringor of Kenya runs east on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood, Los Angeles, towards the finish line. Meringor won the 37th annual L.A. Marathon with a time of 2:25:03 on Sunday, March 20. (Jorge Devotto Ordoñez | The Corsair)

On Sunday, March 20, the 37th annual Los Angeles (L.A.) Marathon was held in the city of Los Angeles, starting at the Dodger Stadium in Downtown L.A. and ending in Century Park, Culver City. According to the L.A. Times, this year the L.A. Marathon had 14,300 participants ranging from the ages of 12 to 88, from 45 nations and from all 50 states.

Delvine Meringor, an elite female runner from Kenya, won the race with a time of 2 hours, 25 minutes and 3 seconds. John Korir, also from Kenya, was second place with a time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 7 seconds. This is Korir’s second consecutive win of the L.A. Marathon.

Meringor crossed the line followed closely by Korir who crossed it eight seconds after. Korir tried hard to catch her, but the Kenyan woman kept a strong pace and held him off. Women began the race approximately 18 minutes before the men based on the women’s and men’s expected race times.

At the 19.5th mile, located near Santa Monica Boulevard intersection with Manning Avenue, two running clubs joined forces to cheer and support the event. Valley Runners Los Angeles (VRLA) and Team Crüda were all out supporting their participants and mostly everyone else passing by during the L.A. Marathon.

One of the founders of VRLA, Marisol De Santiago, was in charge of the music of the day as DJ. “It has been eight years since we started doing this event and this is our second year at this location.” said De Santiago.

The members staged their canopies and colorful balloons at the Northwest corner of Manning Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. "The Beast”, Juan De Santiago, and Sergio Morales were the emcees rallying the congested corner with their cheers and words of encouragement to the passing runners. Keeping the energy always high, they pumped the volume when runners with disabilities and participants representing Latin countries and the Army came close.

On Manning Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard there were two piñatas hanging from the traffic light, a white unicorn with a rainbow-colored tail and a yellow pineapple. A few runners managed to tap or touch the pineapple piñata, which made the crowd cheerful.

Javier Garcia and Aracely Rodriguez, members of VRLA, managed to dress as cows to get the attention of the participants. They were offering bottled waters, orange slices and bananas cut in pieces to anyone crossing their sight.

From VRLA, De Santiago said that all their five members participating made it to the finish line, but she also noticed that some cleaning trucks came onto the path of the marathon, ultimately stopping many runners from completing their race.

The city of Santa Monica was the finish line of the L.A. Marathon from 2009 to 2019, but this ended abruptly in 2019. The McCourt Foundation, who organize the L.A. Marathon, cited lack of space for runners, fans, and vendors in Santa Monica as a primary factor in their decision to relocate.

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