A RACE FOR ALL HUNDREDS COMPETE IN SANTA CLARITA.

Byline: Susan Abram Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - More than 1,700 runners dodged the rain and pounded the pavement Sunday during the annual Santa Clarita Marathon - canceled last year because of massive wildfires.

Runners from as far as Iceland, the Philippines and Mexico breezed by spectators who cheered them on from the sidelines. The cool weather was a relief for participants, who said this year's course was a challenge, but also rewarding.

More than half of the course ran through city trails and along the Santa Clara River. It eventually looped back to the starting line at the Valencia Town Center.

Winners of the full, 26.2-mile marathon - a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon - were Rigoberto Vega, 48, of Los Angeles, who won in 2 hours, 44 minutes and 55 seconds, and Lisa Fink, 33, of Valencia, who took the top prize for women in 3 hours, 28 minutes and 39 seconds.

In the half marathon, Laguna Hills resident David Giangrande, 32, clocked in at 1 hour, 14 minutes, as the men's overall winner.

Winning was a bittersweet victory, Giangrande said. A graduate of Canyon High School, Giangrande won the marathon in 1996. In 2000, he ran the half marathon as a promise to his fiance, who had cancer and died before he ever won. He lost the first-place mark by one second in 2000, he said.

He decided to come back this year.

``I finally got to do it, to win this thing,'' he said.

The women's half marathon was won by Amy Shertzer, 26, of Lancaster, who finished in 1 hour, 24 minutes.

The men's winner in a 5-kilometer race, Eduardo Verdejo, 29, of Bakersfield, clocked in at 17 minutes, 27 seconds, while Rella Kautianen of Santa Clarita, only 12 years old, won the women's version in 20 minutes, 19 seconds.

Organizers have said the registration of more than 1,700 runners was about equal to the number in 2002.

Last year officials were concerned that ashes and other air pollution from the Val Verde/Simi Valley blaze would harm runners, and officials also wanted to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. The inferno charred 108,000 acres between Moorpark and the edge of Santa Clarita.

Participants said this year's children's race was especially fulfilling. Pint-size runners as young as 4 years old competed in their own race and received medals.

``This is an excellent way to teach kids about exercise,'' said Myriam Mekelburg, who ran along with her daughter Megan, 6. Mekelburg pushed her young daughter, Sophie, in a stroller in the children's race. ``We got an application for this through the school, and it doesn't get better than that.''

Arleta resident Gloria Vasquez, 55, ran the half marathon in a little more than an hour.

A native of Colombia, Vasquez said long-distance running is popular in Latin America.

``When you run, it purifies the mind,'' she said.

Susan Abram, [phone]

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Amy Hudson, above front, just 10 years old, runs a half-marathon - 13.1 miles - Sunday in Santa Clarita, where hundreds turned out, right, for events also including a full marathon, a 5K race and a kids' race.

(3 -- ran in SAC edition only) There is a race within a race Sunday for each of the hundreds running in the Santa Clarita Marathon, a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.

(4 -- 5 -- ran in SAC edition only) Men's winner Rigoberto Vega, 48, of Los Angeles is the first person to finish 26.2 miles Sunday in Santa Clarita, while Lisa Fink, 33, of Valencia, later comes in first among women.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News