Long Beach Marathon Expects 3,000 Runners

More than 3,000 runners, including teams from China and South Korea, are expected to start in the seventh annual Long Beach Marathon this morning at the Long Beach Convention Center.

A race within the race will be for the Pacific Rim marathon championship, with 20 athletes competing from China, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.

That race will have the fastest man in the field, Wu Zhihan of China, who has run 2 hours 13 minutes 49 seconds. The top woman is Xu Licun, also of China, who has a personal best of 2:42:49.

Race walkers will start at 7:20 a.m., wheelchair racers at 7:25 and runners at 7:30.