Out of the Running : Leukemia Society Scrubs Annual 10K Event Over Coronado Bridge

Run, sweat, get a T-shirt. The 10-kilometer ritual is probably repeated more often in San Diego than any other city in the country. Weekends often see more than 10,000 runners compete in as many as three major races.

Few have been as popular as the Leukemia Society Coronado Bridge run, the first to allow unfettered crossing of the scenic expanse connecting the peninsula city with San Diego.

But, after 11 consecutive years, the race has been canceled.

Organizers said this week that a cantankerous economy has made finding a sponsor impossible, and orders from the Leukemia Society’s national office were to abandon this year’s fund-raising event out of fear that that the society would take a loss.

“It kind of ran out of steam,” said Stephen Williams, president of a San Diego real estate investment company and a seven-year race veteran. “It takes more energy than most people realize to put on the run . . . and a lot of corporate money.”

The Leukemia Society estimates it takes about $30,000 to underwrite the event, which in its most prosperous years raised $75,000 for local cancer research and patient treatment. In the mid-80s, the popular run attracted more than 6,000 runners, though recently two other Coronado Bridge races have lessened the novelty of the Leukemia Society’s course. Last year, there were about 3,000 participants.

Leukemia Society office administrators said they have been inundated with inquiries asking when this year’s registration forms will be sent out. The race had been scheduled for the first week of October.

“It’s terrible to have to keep telling people there’s not going to be one this year,” said Christie Galasby, program director for the Leukemia Society. “It’s nice to know that people are interested, but it feels like someone stabs us every time we get one of the calls.”

In years past, Travelodge hotels, Home Federal Savings, Great American Bank, Imperial Savings & Loan and several developers have been sponsors. Adolph Coors Co. and Pizza Hut have also provided assistance.

This year, organizers hoped Travelodge’s parent company, Trust Forty Hotels, would donate $25,000 towards sponsorship. Because of widespread corporate belt tightening, the decision not to contribute was “understandable,” Galasby said. Travelodge sponsored the event for the last two years.

“We can’t criticize them for not being able to give more,” she said. “It’s hard not to feel tremendously disappointed, though. With any sponsor, you’d like to think they are going to stick with you forever.”

Matt Spathas, 33, a real estate broker who works in downtown San Diego, agreed that the cancellation was “a sign of the financial times.”

For six years, Spathas made the run that began at Glorietta Bay, passed through Coronado, across the bridge, into the Gaslamp Quarter, up 5th Avenue, across the Laurel Street Bridge and ended near the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.

“From a selfish standpoint, I’ll miss it,” Spathas said. “It was one of the city’s great family events.” Last year, Spathas’ wife, Kris, walked a separate 2-mile course with the pair’s two sons, who are now 18 months and 3 years old.

“From a Leukemia Society standpoint, the group is going to miss its single largest source of charitable funding.”

Race organizers will distribute T-shirts commemorating the non-race year. The cost is $10.