America's Finest City Half Marathon is an annual
road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain.
These events are usually classified as long-distance ac ...
event over the
half marathon
A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...
distance which is held in mid-August on the streets of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. ("America's Finest City" is the official nickname of the city of San Diego.) The race was inaugurated in 1978 and has been held every year since then. By 1985, more than 6000 professional and amateur runners were taking part in the race each year. Both men and women are able to enter into the half marathon and shorter 5 kilometer
fun run
A fun run is a friendly race that involves either road running or cross country running with participants taking part for their own enjoyment rather than competition. A fun run will usually be held to raise funds for a charity, with sponsors pr ...
.
The race is used to raise money for the
American Lung Association
The American Lung Association is a voluntary health organization whose mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease through education, advocacy and research.
History
The organization was founded in 1904 to figh ...
and in its first fourteen years of existence it had cumulatively raised
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.7 million for the non-profit organization. The race was sponsored by the
Home Federal Bank in the 1980s and early 1990s. The organizers endured financial difficulties in 1992 after the loss of its
title sponsor
Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...
. The race remained popular, however, and the following year over five thousand runners took part; among them was television host
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
, running under the pseudonym "Bobbi Jo Jenkins" and accompanied by a bodyguard, a trainer, and a video crew. At the 33rd edition in 2010, the half marathon and 5K races attracted an international field of almost 10,000 runners and the event had raised $3.8 million for non-profit organizations. That year, Ethiopian training partners
Ezkyas Sisay and
Belaynesh Zemedkun topped the men's and women's fields respectively.
The course of the half marathon has a point-to-point format. It starts on the
Point Loma Peninsula
Point Loma (Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
next to the
Cabrillo National Monument
Cabrillo National Monument ( es, Monumento nacional Cabrillo) is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, ...
– some 300 feet (91 m) above sea-level. The course heads north and descends towards
San Diego Bay
San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of c ...
. Turning eastwards onto North Harbor Drive, the race enters a flat straight around the five mile (8 km) mark. After looping around
Harbor Island
Harbor Island is an artificial island in the mouth of the Duwamish River in Seattle, Washington, US, where it empties into Elliott Bay. Built by the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company, it was completed in 1909 and was then the largest art ...
the course heads south, passing near the
Star of India museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
and San Diego Broadway. It traces a path northwards at this point, heading along Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street on its way to
Downtown San Diego
Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...
. The race finishing point is Pan American Plaza in
Balboa Park.
Kenyan
Nelson Oyugi
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
holds the men's half marathon course record of 1:01:59, while Belaynesh Zemedkun is the women's record holder with her time of 1:10:28.
Top Times for the America's Finest City Half Marathon
America's Finest City Half Marathon. Retrieved on 2010-09-24. The men's race over the distance has been dominated by Kenyans, with 13 wins since the mid-1990s, but Americans are historically strong on the women's side with seventeen race wins. The United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
has produced the most winners overall, with 25 of the half marathon's winners hailing from the host country. Patrick Muturi Patrick may refer to:
* Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name
* Patrick (surname), list of people with this name
People
* Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint
*Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
of Kenya is the only man to win the race twice. Maria Trujillo
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
*170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
*Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
has the most wins to her name, having won the race on four occasions.
A virtual race was held in 2020, and entrants were given the option to get either a refund or defer their entry to 2021.
Past half marathon winners
Key:
* † = The 1980 course was mis-marked and was around 800 metres longer than the true half marathon distance.
Statistics
Winners by country
Multiple winners
References
;List of winners
*Leydig, Jack (2010-08-16)
America's Finest City Half Marathon
Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2010-09-23.
External links
{{Portal, California
Official website
Half marathons in the United States
Recurring sporting events established in 1978
Foot races in California
Sports in San Diego
1978 establishments in California
Annual sporting events in the United States