30,000 Taking to Streets for 15th Annual Marathon

Bill Burke can laugh now about what he considers the worst snafu in Los Angeles Marathon history.

Before one race in the event’s early days, entrants had lined up by the thousands around the Biltmore Hotel to pick up their race day T-shirts, hopelessly snarling traffic.

Seeing no way to get through the gridlock, the delivery driver turned around and returned to Long Beach, said Burke, the marathon’s president.

“My whole life flashed in front of me,” he said. “I remember thinking that this was the end of the L.A. Marathon.”

Burke and the marathon’s executive vice president, Marie Patrick, began working the crowd, shaking hands and apologizing, until the driver eventually returned.

Burke’s speeding biographical vignettes then dissipated and the race has since grown, he said, beyond anything he could have imagined.

More than 20,000 runners will be at the starting line at 6th and Figueroa streets Sunday for the 15th annual 26.2-mile race through the streets of Los Angeles. Add the bicyclists, wheelchair racers and walkers, and the total will swell to more than 30,000.

Their willing confrontation with the corridors of pain will take them from downtown through Exposition Park, the Crenshaw district, Koreatown, the Wilshire district, Hancock Park, Hollywood and back again.

The race is a tour of Los Angeles’ ethnic neighborhoods, where traditional music, dancing and arts and crafts will keep runners and spectators entertained.

More than 30,000 spectators are expected to congregate for festivities at Mann’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, and at Lafayette Park on Wilshire Boulevard, American Indians will set up tepees and celebrate with drums and music.

Gospel and variety music will spur the runners on and keep spectators’ hands clapping at Pico and Crenshaw boulevards, while Guatemalans will put on a festival with marimba music, traditional costumes and flags at Virgil Avenue and Wilshire.

Other points will feature rock bands, Ecuadorean dancers and singers and traditional Korean music, among other attractions.

This year’s 15th anniversary race will also feature 366 “legacy runners,” who have competed in every Los Angeles Marathon. They will start from a special area immediately behind the elite runners.

Streets along the route will be closed, beginning as early at 9 tonight near the starting line downtown. They will reopen on a staggered schedule Sunday.

Runners and walkers still on the course when streets reopen Sunday will have to move to the curb lanes or sidewalks and obey all traffic signals.

The MTA will reroute 59 bus lines that run through downtown, Hollywood and the Mid-Wilshire district, but the Metro Red Line subway and Metro Blue Line between Long Beach and downtown will run as scheduled.

Race organizers say the Red Line offers a way to watch the race from successive viewpoints, now that the Hollywood station is open.

Spectators can go to Union Station downtown, where they can catch the Red Line to 7th and Flower streets, a two-block walk from the starting line.

Once the field has left, Red Line spectators can pick them up again at the Hollywood station. Those spectators can then take the Red Line back downtown for the finish.

Information on festivities, parking, street closings, MTA routes and the best points from which to watch the race can be checked on the marathon’s Web site at www.lamarathon.com.

Earlier this week, Burke reflected on the marathon’s less than stellar beginnings.

“I’m just glad to be here,” he said Wednesday, sounding like a man who had dodged many bullets.

“When we first started, I remember negotiating an appearance fee with an elite African runner who wanted enough money to buy five cows,” Burke said.

“Five cows?” he asked the runner.

“Five cows,” the runner answered.

Burke broke into a hearty laugh, saying: “These guys could buy a small ranch in downtown Houston with the money they make these days.”

After about seven or eight marathons, when the number of entrants crept up toward 18,000, Burke said, “I knew we had the opportunity to become a permanent fixture in the city.”

And he knew the marathon had arrived, he said with his tongue only slightly in cheek, when it was the answer to a question in the Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle.

“I didn’t realize how many ethnic communities in Los Angeles held running in such high esteem,” he said.

“Los Angeles is the second-largest Mexican marathon behind Mexico City’s. It is the largest Guatemalan marathon. One year the president of Guatemala ran.”

Over the years, Burke has discovered that a winner from a given country brings more entrants from that country.

“A guy from Italy won one year, and next year 1,000 Italians came,” he said.

With the marathon now an established Los Angeles feature, Burke still sees room for growth if race organizers can work out the necessary agreements with sponsors.

“I think it can be significantly larger,” he said. “Frankly, I think we’re ready to go there.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Surviving the Marathon

For most runners, Sunday’s

Los Angeles Marathon XV will involve a series of small triumphs--

from getting to the starting line on time to making it up the highest hill. Here is a guide to the race.

SUNDAY

* Bike tour start: 6 a.m. at Coliseum

* Wheelchair start: 8:20 a.m. at 6th and Figueroa streets

* Walkers/runners start: 8:45 a.m. at 6th and Figueroa streets

* 5-Kilometer run/walk start: 9:30 a.m. at Los Angeles Convention Center

* Entries: About 20,000 runners

* Distance: 26.2 miles

* Course closure: Vehicles will be allowed back on the streets on a staggered schedule. Competitors then must use sidewalks. *

REGISTRATION

No signups on Sunday, except for the 5K. Registration for the marathon is open until 5 p.m. today at Quality of Life Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

*

PARKING

Parking for runners is available downtown. Exit at Spring, Broadway or Grand off the 101 (Hollywood) Freeway and choose one of many lots near starting line. Or exit at 3rd or 4th Street off the 110 (Harbor) Freeway. Runners are advised to arrive early in downtown area and to be prepared for heavy vehicle traffic.

*

TRAINS AND BUSES

You can also take an Amtrak train to Union Station, then transfer to the Metro Red Line and get off at the 7th Street Metro Center station at 7th and Flower streets, two blocks from the starting line. You can take the Metro Blue Line to that same 7th Street station. MTA information: (800) 266-6883.

The MTA will reroute 59 bus routes between 4:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday in the downtown, Hollywood, Exposition Park and Mid-Wilshire areas.

Information: (213) 626-4455