Civic Effort Helps Barrios Race Run Circles Around Others

With area road races facing collapse because of the economic climate, the Arturo Barrios Invitational has some explaining to do.

It is increasing its sponsor base, attracting more runners and boasting the largest prize purse in California.

Tim Murphy, race director, rattles off several reasons for the event’s ability to snub the recession, but one he keeps mentioning is civic involvement.

“The community has really embraced the event,” Murphy said. “All the staff people I deal with, from the Park and Rec, the police department, redevelopment, public relations, everyone to a person is supportive. There are no hassles.”

Murphy actually is having trouble keeping up with what city government is doing on the race’s behalf.

-- City Manager John Goss not only will provide entertainment during this year’s event--which gets underway at 7:30 a.m. Sunday--he’ll be the entertainment. It will be Goss and his band, South Bay Jazz.

--Chula Vista High and Chula Vista Junior High adopted the race and will provide 100 volunteers. Also, the marching band from each school will perform.

-- The Chula Vista Library printed book marks with the suggestion, “Walk, run or volunteer at the Arturo Barrios Invitational.” They have been inserted into every book checked out during the past month.

It’s believed to be the first time a race has used book marks for advertising.

“But it’s great,” Murphy said. “They did it totally on their own--I didn’t even know about it. And it’s really a neat attitude in the face of all the problems (race directors) have had with different cities.”

(The San Diego Marathon left that city two years ago because of problems obtaining permits, then had further difficulties with permits when it tried to change its course and run through Del Mar and Encinitas. It now runs exclusively through Carlsbad.)

-- Police Chief Rick Emerson, a runner, heard the course needed some alterations so he jumped right in, laced on his running shoes and marked off a new course along the marina.

Emerson took the position nine months ago after serving in the same capacity in Pasadena, where road races are the least of the police’s headaches.

“When you have a parade that people come to from all over, parking on the streets the night before, partying on the streets and sleeping on the streets,” Emerson said, “then you come to the realization a 10K can’t be that difficult.”

Emerson said he helped redesign the course because some merchants along the marina complained about access.

“I just think there’s a lot of things we can do with people,” Emerson said. “I don’t believe in being an obstructionist. My philosophy is, ‘OK, we can do anything.’ And now we have a course that everyone’s happy with and one on which some records might be set because it’s so flat.”

This will be the fourth running of the Barrios, the third in Chula Vista. In 1989, when the inaugural invitational was run in Santa Ana, only 891 runners entered.

The race moved south in 1990 at the behest of Chris Salomone, Chula Vista’s director of community development who earlier worked for the city of Carlsbad when the Carlsbad 5,000 was inaugurated.

Participation grew to 1,450 that year and then to 1,700 last October.

An estimated 2,500 runners are expected Sunday, “and in these times that’s a real good number,” Murphy said. “A lot of races are way down because people just don’t have the $15 to enter.”

The race also benefits from its exposure as ESPN’s Road Race of the Month, a distinction it has held the past two years and will again in November. In a case of one hand washing the other, Murphy owns the company that produces the show for ESPN each month.

Murphy doesn’t hide the relationship.

“This race offers the highest payout in California,” he said. “And if it was a race that didn’t deserve the attention, ESPN would say, ‘Hey, come on.’ ”

The payout is $20,000, to be distributed among the top nine men and women finishers with $4,000 going to the winners.

Perhaps equally significant was the boost that came in February when Runner’s World magazine added the race to its top-75 list. Murphy said it is the youngest race on the list.

The mention in the top 75 (the magazine does not rank the races but lists them chronologically) has spurred interest from all over the Southern California, Murphy said, and has even helped attract entrants from Arizona.

“When that list comes out,” Murphy said, “people look at it and plan on how many of the races they can run in.”

Murphy expects most of the race’s future growth to come from the South Bay, which has a large Hispanic population, the youth of which looks up to Barrios.

A native of Mexico City, Barrios is the world record holder at 10,000 meters (27 minutes 8.23 seconds) and 20,000 meters (56:55.60). He speaks to local students before each race urging them to continue their education and sees to it that proceeds go to local schools.

Barrios’ merit could grow substantially next year when he begins running marathons. Some predict he will set a world best at that distance (26 miles) because of his ability to maintain a consistent pace. When Barrios set his record over 20 kilometers all 53 laps were within a second of each other.

Murphy hopes that if Barrios’ stature does grows, so too will that of the race. City officials, though, can’t wait that long.

“I’m just hoping for a sunny day on Sunday,” Salomone said. “I want Chula Vista to look good on ESPN.”