MEDICAL

Competitive runners are not the only people who will have a chance to get some exercise when a gunshot signals the start of the 1988 Los Angeles Marathon on March 9.

While the younger athletes run for prizes, hundreds of senior citizens, bussed from throughout Greater Los Angeles to the USC campus, will participate in a 1.3-mile walk winding through the campus and ending at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The seniors’ marathon will be non-competitive so participants can proceed at their own pace. The only awards will be door prizes, including an opportunity to win a Caribbean cruise to be raffled off at a post-walk reception.

The 1988 Senior Citizens Walk is being sponsored by Secure Horizons, a health maintenance organization for senior citizens that is part of PacifiCare Health Systems, a Cypress-based company that owns and operates HMOs in California, Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas.

Debby O’Roake, director of corporate communications for PacifiCare, said the event is open to anyone 64 or older. Participation will be free to Secure Horizons members, while non-members will be charged a $10 entry fee. PacifiCare officials said all money collected will be donated to the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center at USC.

More information about the walk is available by calling 1-800-272-7070.