1,700 READY TO RUN REGISTRATION HITS '02 LEVELS.Byline: Eugene Tong tong 1 tr.v. tonged, tong·ing, tongs To seize, hold, or manipulate with tongs. [Back-formation from tongs. Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, - Long-distance runners from as far as Iceland plan to compete Sunday in the annual Santa Clarita Marathon, which was shelved last year because of imminent danger and air pollution from a massive wildfire. About 350 contenders from across the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Canada, Philippines and Iceland have registered for the 26.2-mile full marathon - a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon Boston marathon famous 26-mile race held annually for long-distance runners. [Am. Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Endurance . More than 1,350 other runners have signed up for three additional races in the ninth annual Santa Clarita event. The registration of more than 1,700 runners was about equal to the number in 2002, despite last year's cancellation because of the Val Verde/Simi Valley inferno, which charred 108,000 acres between Moorpark and the edge of Santa Clarita before it was contained. ``There was a big concern over our numbers because of the fact we didn't have it last year,'' said Phil Lantis, the city's cultural affairs supervisor, who oversees the marathon. ``We're back on target to where we were this time a couple years ago.'' Last year officials were concerned that ashes and other air pollution from the blaze BLAZE - A single assignment language for parallel processing. ["The BLAZE Language: A Parallel Language for Scientific Programming", P. Mehrotra <mehrotra@csrd.uiuc.edu> et al, J Parallel Comp 5(3):339-361 (Nov 1987)]. would harm runners, Lantis said, and the officials also needed to divert di·vert v. di·vert·ed, di·vert·ing, di·verts v.tr. 1. To turn aside from a course or direction: Traffic was diverted around the scene of the accident. 2. ambulances and police away from any race. ``They were the same people who did road closures,'' he said. This year the Hyatt Valencia, host hotel for the event, sold out of the 100 rooms - at $105 per night - set aside for the race. ``We've got some really good response,'' said Colleen col·leen n. An Irish girl. [Irish Gaelic cailín, diminutive of caile, girl, from Old Irish. Truglia, catering and convention services manager. ``We had a block set aside. They were all picked up.'' Besides overcoming last year's stumble, marathon planners also have altered the course, setting roughly 70 percent along the city's trails - including the recently opened Santa Clara River Trail The Santa Clara River Trail is a paved bicycle and walking path located in the city of Santa Clarita, California. The path is currently approximately 8 miles in length and generally runs in an east-west direction and closely follows the path of the Santa Clara River and Soledad . ``Hopefully, it'll be less impact on drivers, and it shows what's great about Santa Clarita, which is our trail system,'' Lantis said. Starting at the Valencia Town Center, the route loops north into Saugus to Copper Hill Road, east past the Saugus Speedway Speedway, town (1990 pop. 13,092), Marion co., central Ind., just W of Indianapolis; inc. 1926. The Indianapolis Speedway, site of the annual Indianapolis 500 car race, is located there. There is also light manufacturing. and south near Wiley Canyon Road before winding back to Town Center Drive. Brian Frank, 45, of Valencia, was prepared to run last year until the officials canceled the event and issued refunds. ``It was kind of disappointing,'' said Frank, who is making his second appearance in the full marathon. ``We all trained really hard, but they made the right decision.'' A member of the Santa Clarita Runners, Frank spoke of the local marathon with warmth and reverence. ``It's almost like going to Grad Night at Disneyland and it's only our school there,'' said Frank, who has participated in races around the state and in Arizona. Eugene Tong, (661) 257-5253 eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com IF YOU GO: The 2004 Santa Clarita Marathon is Sunday, starting at the Valencia Town Center on Town Center Drive. The full marathon, a half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of 21,097.5 meters, or 13 7/64 miles, about 13.1 miles. It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. and a 5-kilometer run/walk will begin at 7 a.m. A noncompetitive ``kids K'' race is set for 8:30 a.m. Call (661) 284-1472 or visit www.scmarathon.org for more information. CAPTION(S): box, map Box: IF YOU GO (see text) Map: SANTA CLARITA MARATHON Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion