The Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon is an annual

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

race held in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. Established in 1998, it is the original race in the

Rock 'n' Roll Running Series The Rock 'n' Roll Running Series is a collection of road running events owned and operated by the World Triathlon Corporation, IRONMAN Group's Competitor Group, part of Advance Publications. The series is known for lining race routes with live band ...

. The event includes a

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 ...

.Cruz, Dan (2010-06-07)
Limo, Gromova take San Diego wins

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved on 2011-06-08.

History

The marathon was established in 1998. The 2006 marathon had 21,159 participants—17,339 of whom successfully finished the race. A

race over was added to supplement the established full marathon race from the 2010 edition onwards. In 2013, Bernard Koech set the half marathon course record of 58:41. This was the fourth-fastest time ever for the event at the time, although the time did not meet official

requirements as the course contained an excessive downhill. The 2020 edition of the race was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Course

The marathon originally commenced at 6th Avenue at Palm and concluded on Broadway Avenue downtown San Diego. The following year, the finish moved to the Naval Training Center, and three years later moved to the Parade Deck at

Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego (MCRD San Diego) is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former N ...

. In 2010 a new course was defined which ended at

SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego is a theme park in Mission Bay Park in San Diego, California. It is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, public aquarium, and marine animal rehabilitation center. SeaWorld, the theme park's proprietor, is owned and operated by Un ...

. In 2013, the course was again re-routed with a new finish line at

Petco Park Petco Park is a ballpark in San Diego, California. It is the home of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). The ballpark is located in the East Village neighborhood of downtown San Diego, adjacent to the Gaslamp Quarter. Petco Par ...

. There is also a half-marathon over portions of the same course and a four-person relay option. Runners have seven hours in which to complete the marathon. The four-person relay option has a four-hour time limit.

Foundation controversy

Since its inception, the marathon claims to have raised in excess of $100 million for charities. In 2008 the Competitor Group took over Elite Racing, the company that had been organizing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. The following year, 2009, an internal audit revealed that the charity in whose name the race had been run, Elite Racing Foundation for Children, Education & Medical Research, had been improperly commingling funds with the for-profit Elite Racing. It further found that the foundation was being operated "in many instances for the benefit of the for-profit," and that the charity's role in hosting the races had been overstated. As a result, the race had benefited improperly from hundreds of thousands of dollars in public subsidies and grants. In announcing the results of the audit, Competitor said it would return $190,500 to

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

and $152,544 to the City of

, spend the remaining foundation funds on health and wellness causes, file amended tax returns, and dissolve the foundation. Competitor Group made the final payments in October 2009. Altogether the company returned $344,176 to the city and county.

Records

In 2015, Harriette Thompson of Charlotte, North Carolina, completed the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon at the age of 92 years, 65 days, thus becoming the oldest woman to complete a marathon. In 2017, at the same event, she became the oldest woman to finish a half marathon, at age 94.

Winners

Marathon

Key: Course record (in bold)

Half marathon

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Marathon Recurring events established in 1998 Marathons in the United States Sports competitions in San Diego Foot races in California Dalian Wanda Group