LEVELING THE FIELD

Organizers of the Los Angeles Marathon hope to pull a fast one on the 23,000 runners expected to participate in Sunday’s 17th annual race. After surveying 30,000 past L.A. Marathon participants who overwhelmingly endorsed the idea of a flatter, faster course, the layout for this year’s 26.2-mile race has been significantly changed for only the third time in the event’s history.

“When 90% of your customers say they want a course change, you listen,” said Bill Burke, president of the Los Angeles Marathon.

Through the years, Burke has exhibited an unquenchable need for speed, envisioning a race that would produce fast times and draw the world’s best marathoners and recreational runners alike.

Kenyan Simon Bor established an L.A. Marathon record when he won in 2 hours 9 minutes 25 seconds in 1999, but Burke, who co-founded the event after the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, has long pined for a sub-2:09 time on the course.

Benson Mbithi of Kenya won in 2000 in 2:11:55 and Kenyan Stephen Ndungu won last year in 2:13:13.

Burke, however, might finally see his goal fulfilled thanks to a course that no longer features as many big hills and has expanded into previously uncharted territory on the Westside.

“It always depends on the weather,” Burke said. “If the course is right and the weather is right we could have a sub 2:07. I’m kind of hoping we don’t because I’ll probably have a seizure from being so happy.”

The first 10 L.A. Marathons began and ended at or near the Coliseum. But in 1996, the course was changed in part because some top runners asked marathon officials to make the route faster.

Hoping to give the downtown area a shot in the arm, the 1996 race began at 8th and Figueroa Streets and finished at the Central Library at 5th and Flower. Not everyone was thrilled with a course that was basically the original layout in reverse.

“It has the hills in the wrong place,” Belgium’s Eddy Hellebuyck said after he dropped out of the 1996 race after 16 miles. “At about the time you get tired, 22 or 23 miles, there are the hills. You need more downhill to the finish line than that.”

This year’s race will be substantially downhill from the start.

The race begins at Grand Avenue and 2nd Street at the top of Bunker Hill, elevation 405 feet, and gradually descends to 112 feet at mile 9. The most challenging incline comes at mile 17 when runners will climb from 115 feet to 200 feet over a three-mile stretch. On the previous course, runners had to negotiate a 300-foot climb over 14 miles. Exposition Park, the Crenshaw District, Cheviot Hills and Koreatown remain part of a course that will take runners past City Hall for the first time since 1995 and through the 2nd Street tunnel for the first time. Also for the first time, the course extends west past Fairfax Boulevard to Robertson Boulevard. The race ends downtown on Hope Street between Olympic Boulevard and 9th Street.

Over the years, areas that have seen the marathon come and go include Olvera Street, Silver Lake and Chinatown. The biggest casualty of this year’s course change is the area with the steepest elevation gain--Hollywood.

In November, Burke called the decision to eliminate the traditional Hollywood portion, “gut-wrenching.”

Leron Gubler, president and chief executive officer of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said the race would lose some of the cache it enjoyed by excluding the Hollywood landmarks that made it an attractive site for runners and viewers alike.

“We understand why it’s been taken away--it is uphill from downtown or the Coliseum to Hollywood ... but there is a little bit of sadness in losing it because Hollywood has always been a player in the marathon,” Gubler said.

Nick Curl, vice-president of the marathon, said this year’s course was selected from among last year’s course and three alternative layouts posted on the L.A. Marathon’s website. Marathon officials sent out 30,000 e-mails asking for feedback.

Curl said the challenge was to design a faster, flatter course that started and ended in the downtown area, as opposed to a point-to-point layout like those used in Boston and New York. A computer and topographical software program was instrumental in helping Curl cut one of the hilliest major-city marathon courses down to size.

“You can’t just say, ‘This looks better. This looks faster,’” Curl said. “Every single step of the way has to be charted.

“In the old days, when you designed a marathon, you got out the [U.S. Geological Survey] topo maps and a magnifying glass and went to work. Five or six years ago, we tried using [Global Positioning System] but that wasn’t the answer.

“Nowadays, you get a topographical program, you take the cursor and move it along the course route and it will tell you the elevations.”

Curl is confident the course will have appeal for runners of all ability levels.

“We love the elite athletes, we want them to break records, but this is for the average Jane or Joe who runs the L.A. Marathon,” he said.

Pat Connelly, who heads the L.A. Roadrunners marathon training program, said he has taken nearly 2,000 runners on bus tours of the new course and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The old course had what I call the Red Zone, the most difficult part came during those last eight miles,” Connelly said. “The new course still has some light rolling hills at 221/2 and 23 miles, but for the first 13, you can fly.

“I’m warning people not to get lulled into a false sense of security. They’ll still have 13 miles to go.”

Organizers are confident that many of those who go the distance will be rewarded for their effort with personal-best marks. Curl expects just as much feedback in the days after the race as he received before it.

“The report cards come out March 3,” Curl said. “I will be either universally loved or loathed.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

RACE FACTS

What: The 17th Los Angeles Marathon.

When: Sunday, 8:45 a.m.

Where: Starts on Grand Avenue at Disney Hall, ends in downtown Los Angeles on Hope Street near Ninth.

TV: Channel 9, 8:30-11:30 a.m.