'CHALLENGE' RICHES ELITE MEN, WOMEN CHASING $50,000 BONUS.Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer For the elite runners in Sunday's Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon is an annual marathon held in Los Angeles, California since 1986. It was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles. The race starts at about 8:15AM and runs through Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, the Crenshaw district, and , a $50,000 bonus will be waiting for the first man or woman to cross the finish line on Flower Street as part of the marathon's first-of-its-kind format called ``The Challenge.'' For co-workers Rudy Molano of Bell Gardens and Maria Lopez Maria Lopez is a Cuban-American former judge and is currently a television jurist on the syndicated television show Judge Maria Lopez. Judge Lopez made legal history as the first Latina appointed to the bench in Massachusetts when she was selected as a District of Downey, meanwhile, the stakes will be far more modest but important nonetheless: dinner on the other's dime at Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ BBQ barbecue in Long Beach. ``There's always going to be competition between men and women,'' said Lopez, who also happens to be Molano's supervisor at Robinsons May. ``We think we're tougher than them.'' In its 19th year, the L.A. Marathon will become the first big-city marathon ever to experiment with a battle-of-the-sexes handicap race A Handicap race is a horse race where horses carry different weights. A better horse will carry a heavier weight in order to make the race more fair. The purpose of this is to make the races more interesting to bet on, as although one is less likely to win, one will win more if this weekend, starting its elite women 20 minutes, 30 seconds ahead of the men. But the countless husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, brothers and sisters, and friends and neighbors who have been running the race for years can tell you that men and women always have enjoyed a friendly rivalry on the 26.2-mile course. Huntington Beach Huntington Beach, city (1990 pop. 181,519), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast, across from Santa Catalina Island, in an oil-producing area; inc. 1909. It manufactures aerospace vehicles, aircraft parts, optical instruments, and heat transfer equipment. neighbors Mark Conway and Danielle Aldinger will run in their second and 10th marathons, respectively, on Sunday. The two trained together and both hope to break 4 hours, though they don't plan to run with each other. ``I'm just not as fast as he is, Mr. Seven-Minute Miles,'' Aldinger said. ``I just have long legs,'' Conway responded. Neither one said he or she would have wanted to train for the marathon without a partner. The 20-mile runs toward the end would have been just too daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin . But they will run the marathon separately, then compare times at the end. ``We're just going to run our own race,'' Aldinger said. ``If we happen to be running next to each other at some point, that's great.'' Lorenzo Uribe of Downey is hoping to run 4:17:00 with his girlfriend, Nancy Lopez Nancy Lopez (born January 6, 1957) is one of the most accomplished women in the history of professional women's golf. Lopez was born in Torrance, California. She is also known as Nancy Lopez-Knight, since her marriage to former Major League baseball player Ray Knight. , by his side. The two have engaged in some friendly trash talking trash talk n. Disparaging, often insulting or vulgar speech about another person or group. leading up to race day. ``She's already said she's going to kick my (butt),'' said Uribe, who will be running his third marathon. ``She said I have no chance, basically.'' At the front of the field, the L.A. Marathon has generated considerable interest in the running community by adopting ``The Challenge'' for this year. Eight times in the marathon's history, the top woman has finished within 20 minutes of the top man. The $50,000 bonus will come in addition to the $25,000 first prize and new Honda Accord The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. given to both the men's and women's winners. However, none of the competitors even have come close to racing under such conditions before. Defending women's champion Tatyana Pozdynakova of the Ukraine is coached by her husband. But the closest she comes to running with men is on occasion with her 17-year-old son Eugene, who competes in the 800 meters at home in Gainesville, Fla. ``It will be very interesting,'' Pozdynakova said. ``I can't be thinking about the men catching me or not. I have to think about my own time, my own strategy for racing.'' Of the marathon's 23,000-plus runners, approximately 62 percent are men and 38 percent women. Lest the men-vs.-women theme get too carried away, marathon organizers can point to two marriages that have taken place between people who have met during the race. But organizers also are discussing ways to extend ``The Challenge'' to the rest of the field for next year's 20th anniversary, though not necessarily with a battle-of-the-sexes race for everyday runners. The number of entrants is more closely balanced among the 2,000 Students Run L.A. participants from area schools. The group has taken the initiative in encouraging girls to run the marathon and has a 55 percent-45 percent split between the boys and girls boys and girls mercurialisannua. , an increase of 13 percentage points from 15 years ago. One of the girls, 16-year-old Jhania Lantan from the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies (also Sherman Oaks CES or SOCES) is a (magnet) public school in the San Fernando Valley, Southern California, United States. , will be running with another girl and boy in her first marathon. ``If anything, (the boys) are always encouraging us, saying, 'You can do this,''' Lantan said. ``They really help us a lot. When we feel down, they pick us up. It's like we're a team.'' Then there are Kelly Brooks Kelly Brook (born Kelly Ann Parsons on November 23, 1979) is a British model, actress, and occasional swimwear designer and television presenter. Biography of Hollywood and Allison Belanger from Los Angles, both concierges at the Four Seasons Hotel. The two started training together on weekends and will run their first marathon together, each tuned into their own iPod. They have battled through injuries, coordinated work schedules for the marathon and will go on a two-day getaway afterward af·ter·ward also af·ter·wards adv. At a later time; subsequently. Adv. 1. afterward - happening at a time subsequent to a reference time; "he apologized subsequently"; "he's going to the store but he'll be back here . But they can't help but joke about who is going to be stronger when they cross the finish line. ``I just know that he's going to pull a Seabiscuit on me,'' Belanger said. Ross Siler, (818) 713-3610 ross.siler(at)dailynews.com LOS ANGELES MARATHON When: Sunday, 8:30 a.m. TV: Ch. 4, Ch. 52 COMING TUESDAY Complete list of local participants and results CAPTION(S): box, map Box: LOS ANGELES MARATHON Map: CITY OF LOS ANGELES
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