Teixeira Overruns Competition, Onlooker

Give marathon runner Chuck Teixeira water at your peril.

Teixeira won the third annual Santa Clarita Marathon on Sunday, even after accidentally knocking over a girl who was handing water to runners at mile 22 of the 26.2-mile race.

“I could hear her screaming behind me,” the breathless Teixeira said just beyond the finish line. “I just mowed her right over.”

It seemed most observers forgave Teixeira, especially since the youngster was not seriously hurt and he finished in record time for the Santa Clarita event at 2 hours 36 minutes.

The marathon drew 557 runners this year--about the same as the first event in 1995. The early-morning race started in Canyon Country, wound through Saugus and Newhall and ended in Valencia. Organizers say the race is a runner’s course because of a merciful decline from an elevation of 1,700 feet at the starting line to about 1,200 feet at the finish.

Canyon Country resident Teixeira, 38, an engineer for a sporting goods company, has run about 20 marathons, including the Los Angeles and Boston marathons, but this is his first win.

“I figured I’d better win one before I get too old,” he said.

The fastest woman in the race was Tina Escobar, a mother of two, who finished with a time of 3 hours 3 minutes. Escobar, 37, of Chino Hills, said she has run 22 marathons since she started running only five years ago. Now she trains by running about 100 miles a week.

“I started because I wanted to eat a lot and not gain weight,” she said.

Organizers for the Santa Clarita Marathon say the race is making a name for itself as a respectable regional event, but Phil Howard, president of the Santa Clarita Runners Club, acknowledges that the race is not likely to draw world-class runners.

“We don’t give away any money,” he said. “Just trophies and plaques and stuff.”

To draw more people, race organizers included a 10-mile race for the second time in two years--480 people finished that event--and a 1-kilometer children’s race. The purpose was to make the Santa Clarita Marathon accessible to people of all ages and capacities, Howard said.

“It’s a significant achievement when you win a race, no matter what age you are,” he said.

Richard and Ellen Wright, ages 66 and 58 respectively, walked the 10-mile race at a brisk pace. They had no desire to win, they said, but were just conditioning themselves for their true passion.

“We like hiking in the Sierras,” said Richard Wright. “We just do this to keep in shape.”

Legal secretary Lana Huzvar, 41, of Sherman Oaks, said running helps her appreciate life.

“I get a real sense of accomplishment, of self-worth from running,” she said. “It sort of makes me glad that I am alive.”