San Diego Is Destined for Dueling Marathons

After winning last year’s Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego Marathon, Thom Hunt discovered what it’s like to be a sports celebrity.

“I was amazed at all the people who came up to me and said they watched the race on TV,” said Hunt, 29, of Pacific Beach. “I usually hear from other runners after a race, but average sports fans don’t pay much attention until there is a lot of TV and press coverage.”

In a city devoted to outdoor recreation, runners tend to blend into the scenery.

Although San Diego is not likely to challenge the nation’s most famous marathons, staged in Boston and New York, the city could be on the brink of moving up to the second tier of marathons, according to Hunt.

Then again, it could wind up with two minor league events.

The problem is feuding among local promoters and an interested charity that threatens to leave the city with dueling marathons rather than one unified race attracting top competition and coverage.

Efforts to bring about a merger of the Mission Bay and Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego marathons--which traditionally have been staged six weeks apart--have failed.

“If there is not some cooperation,” Hunt said, “it could all go down the tubes, and it will take many years of somebody pushing hard to get it regenerated. We could wind up with two lousy marathons if people don’t put aside their egos and promote a marathon together.”

The city is faced with the prospect of races held on consecutive weekends in December, which would dilute the field of both races and impose a financial hardship on the city’s special events department.

The contestants in this battle of marathons include the Holiday Bowl, the San Diego Track Club, the San Diego Heart Assn. and a race management group, In-Motion.

At issue is who would control and manage a united San Diego marathon, but there are philosophical differences as well.

The goal of the Heart Assn. is to raise money to support research to combat heart disease and educate youngsters on the dangers of smoking.

The Holiday Bowl wants to produce a world-class race that can, together with its annual football game, help promote the image of San Diego.

The interests of the two groups may not be incompatible, as recent history suggests, but there is a difference of opinion on how to meet the needs of everyone, including the local running community.

The Heart Assn. has staged a marathon for the past decade, and in the past two years has teamed with the Holiday Bowl, which has subcontracted with In-Motion to promote and manage the race.

The Heart Assn., which lost approximately $40,000 on the 1984 race (the figure includes the value of volunteers’ time), realized a profit of nearly $10,000 last year through its tie-in with the Holiday Bowl.

Now, though, the Heart Assn. has formed a new alliance with the Track Club, which for 23 years has sponsored the Mission Bay Marathon. The Track Club has offered to pay the Heart Assn. 50% of money received from entry fees, an arrangement that would have generated $43,000 had it been in effect in last January’s race.

The Heart Assn. and Track Club linked up after negotiations with the Holiday Bowl to produce a merger ended bitterly. The Holiday Bowl had guaranteed revenue of $20,000 to the Heart Assn. from the 1987 race.

Sidney Smith, president of the Heart Assn., said late last week he would like to resolve the dispute and stage a single race.

Less optimistic about a settlement were John Reid, executive director of the Holiday Bowl, and Keith Jeffers, Track Club president.

“We want to go after corporate dollars to help sponsor the race and attract elite runners,” Reid said. “The Track Club is a purist organization and seems to have trouble coming to grips with our ideas. We feel we have demonstrated our ability to stage a first-class event, but our vision of the marathon is in jeopardy.”

A key issue is the involvement of In-Motion as a coordinator and promoter of the race.

In-Motion was paid $48,000 by the Holiday Bowl to manage the 1986 race, and Reid said he was completely satisfied with the group’s work. Lynn Flanagan, co-owner of the San Diego-based company, said In-Motion lost $5,000 on the 1986 Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego Marathon.

The Heart Assn., however, was concerned that the money paid to In-Motion was nearly five times the amount it received from the Holiday Bowl.

The Heart Assn., after deciding that it no longer wanted a relationship with In-Motion, turned to the San Diego Track Club as a partner.

Although Reid said he would like to end the in-fighting, the Holiday Bowl insists on continuing to do business with In-Motion, which lined up corporate sponsors (Glendale Federal and the San Diego County Toyota dealers) and several upper-echelon marathoners.

On the assumption that it will no longer be affiliated with the Heart Assn., the Holiday Bowl has lined up two new charities for 1987, including a Navy anti-drug program and a city foundation to improve jogging and hiking trails in Balboa Park.

“Our focus is to attract national attention to our city, and we think we need good teams for our football game and good runners in our marathon,” Reid said. “We want a race that has the potential to become a big city marathon.”

Reid’s goals are not that different from those of the San Diego Track Club, but there are major differences.

“The crux of the matter,” said Jeffers, “is that the Holiday Bowl doesn’t believe we can collect sponsors and promote the race the way they want. I think (Reid) just doesn’t want to give up control of the race.”

Both Reid and Jeffers vow to stage marathons, regardless of whether a settlement is reached.

The city’s special events department has received requests from the rival groups to hold their races. The Mission Bay-Heart Assn. marathon would be held Dec. 5, and the Holiday Bowl race would be Dec. 13.

To hold a marathon requires the services of up to 180 police officers, according to Perry Grossman, special events coordinator for the city.

It’s possible the matter could be referred to police chief Bill Kolender or the city council, according to one of the parties in the dispute.

Smith, in a conciliatory vein, said he wants to resolve the impasse.

“I would hope there is no impasse,” he said. “I’d like to see everyone get together--it would be a phenomenal event for the city if the Holiday Bowl activities could be tied in with the professionalism of the Track Club and the enthusiasm and worthy cause of the Heart Assn.”

The Heart Assn. seems convinced a bigger turnout of runners will result from its alliance with the Track Club than if it remained affiliated with the Holiday Bowl.

Attracting elite runners, as the Holiday Bowl desires, may not be the best way to lure average marathoners into the competition, according to Smith. The Heart Assn. is dependent on entry fees to generate its income under its new contract with the Track Club.

Flanagan says In-Motion can generate as big a field of runners as the Track Club.

But Jeffers argues that the local running community would support the new Track Club-Heart Assn. race, because of the Track Club’s 23-year involvement with the Mission Bay Marathon.

But two prominent local runners, Hunt and Mindy Ireland, 35, of Alpine, said they would prefer to see In-Motion involved in a major marathon under the Holiday Bowl banner.