Top Field Set for America’s Finest City Half Marathon

The race which is billed as America’s Finest City Half Marathon could simply survey its participants as to the accuracy of that title.

Many of the nation’s top road runners will join a talented local field in the 13.1-mile run Sunday that begins at the Cabrillo National Monument at 7 a.m. and finishes at Balboa Park.

More than 6,500 runners are expected to participate in the eighth annual run. But most of the attention will be centered on an exceptional group of world-class runners than should challenge Kirk Pfeffer’s course record-1:02.55 set in 1981.

Pfeffer is among those expected to chase the mark. A Boulder, Colo. resident, he has a lifetime best of 1:02.14 for the distance. Joining Pfeffer from Boulder is Benji Durden, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. Former local high school stars Thom Hunt and Terry Cotton figure to contend. Hunt is the course record-holder for the Coronado Half Marathon (1:03.07). Cotton won the America’s Finest City Half Marathon in 1980 (1:03.48).

Other contenders include Irish Olympian Jerry Kiernan, 1982 AFC champion Domingo Tibaduiza of Columbia, former U.S. record-holder George Malley and Ron Tabb, the winner of the 1985 Rio de Janeiro Marathon.

Laurie Binder is the favorite to win the women’s competition. A former San Diegan, who lives in Oakland, Binder won the AFC in 1980 (1:14.36). She also won the Mission Bay Marathon in 1979 and 1980.

Binder’s competition should come from New Zealand’s Glenys Quick, who has the women’s record for the Coronado Half Marathon. Also in contention should be Alpine’s Mindy Ireland, a two-time winner of the Heart of San Diego Marathon, and Kelly Champagne of Albuquerque, N.M. Champagne ran a 34:24 10K at Mount San Antonio College earlier this year.

The AFC course is fast. Short upgrades and downslopes make up the first two miles, but a net 400-foot drop to sea level will quicken the pace over the next 2 1/2 miles. The downhill carries the fast pace through a six-mile flat stretch, until the course begins a final climb as the race enters downtown on the 11th mile. The only real upgrade is the net 250-foot climb from the 11th to the 12th miles.

The race, organized by the American Lung Association, runs from Point Loma, along San Diego Bay and Harbor Island, through downtown and finishes at the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park.