A sold-out field of over 22,000 runners set to patriciate in one of the West Coast’s Largest Races
LONG BEACH, Calif. – September 27, 2024 – The Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon, Southern California’s premier fall marathon, is gearing up for its 40th anniversary running next weekend, October 4-6, 2024.
The first Long Beach Marathon was held in 1982, the brainchild of local YMCA members who wanted to bring a marathon to their own city amidst the running boom of the late 1970s. They traveled across the United States, knocking off marathons when one of them came up with an idea.
“We should have one in our city,” remembers former race director Joe Carlson, who has lived all 73 years of his life in the City of Long Beach. “Long Beach is a great city, and running is a part of it. There’s a rich history here.”
Probably no one is more qualified to share that history than Carlson. He was the Long Beach Marathon race director for nine years, from 1984 through 1992. He said about 1,600 runners participated in the first race.
Now, the event includes a two-day Health & Fitness expo, marathon, half-marathon, a bike tour and Saturday’s Aquarium of the Pacific 5K. A sold-out field of 22,000 runners are registered to participate.
Carlson recalls there being “two big weather events” in the race’s history. For one, the race negotiated an airline sponsor and held the Pacific Rim Marathon Championship, with runners coming from as far away as Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. The first year of the Pacific Rim Marathon Championship, runners were greeted by an apocalyptic whipping wind.
“Everything was falling over,” said Carlson. “All the tents and mile marker signs.”
Carlson doesn’t remember the exact year, but he thinks it was 1986, the first year the race was moved from February to May and race day temperature climbed to nearly triple digits. Interestingly, Carlson and fellow organizers prepared so thoroughly for the heat, with increased ice and water stations, that there were few problems.
“We had fewer medical issues that year than any other year,” he said. “But it was scary. It was hot early.”
Sadly, the two men who succeeded Carlson as race director died during their tenure as the head organizer. One of them was Bob Fernald, the other Dr. Jack Rose. Carlson and Rose traveled to the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Rose brought a Coleman lantern with him and lit it with the Olympic flame. Then he brought the lantern home and lit his hot water heater with the lantern.
“So,” said Carlson, “he reasoned his home was heated by the Olympic flame.”
Rose would go on to teach a class entitled History of the Olympics at Long Beach State University. There’s another Olympic connection to the Long Beach Marathon. Famed pole vaulter Bob Seagren created a production company that helped stage the race for decades.
There was about a three-year gap in the mid 1990s when the Long Beach Marathon was not held. But according to Carlson, about a dozen men ran 26.2-miles each year during the gap to keep their local marathon streak alive.
The race continues to provide a significant fundraising platform for dozens of charities and non-profit organizations, including Team Challenge in 2024, which has raised more than $150,000 for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Long Beach resident Rocio Castrillon, 47, has been battling Crohn’s disease for more than 20 years and will walk the event’s 5K.
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease that causes chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Castrillon completed a half marathon less than six months after she was diagnosed with Crohn’s.
“When I got the diagnosis I said, ‘Sure, I can go down this dark hole or do the opposite and find a positive.’ For me, (being active) is the only way to keep living through a chronic disease,” said Castrillon. “The biggest thing is having the visibility, to continue raising awareness about what these diseases are and that people can still go out there and run races despite the disease.”
Carlson, meanwhile, looks back with civic pride at the marathon’s impact.
“You look at the people volunteering, the sponsorship,” he said. “It was very much a community event and if you come down to Marina Green next weekend, you’ll see that it still very much is.”
For more information or to view a complete race weekend schedule of events, visit RunLongBeach.com.
About the Long Beach Marathon
The 40th running of the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon will take place on the weekend of October 4-6, 2024. Race weekend will welcome more than 22,000 runners with perfect Southern California weather and fast and flat courses. Participants can choose from four different events including the marathon, half-marathon, 20-mile Bike Tour, or the Aquarium of the Pacific 5k. The event features two days of races along the Southern California coast, offering participants iconic waterfront views of Shoreline Village and the Queen Mary Hotel. For more information about the race or to register for the event, visit RunLongBeach.com.
