BYE-BYE, ROLLERBLADES; L.A.'S ADOLESCENT MARATHON MAY GROW INTO SERIOUS RACE.

Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer

Every spring, thousands descend on downtown Los Angeles for one giant, moving block party that is the Los Angeles Marathon.

While the dedicated pursue a finish line that's an ungodly 26.2 miles away, the less inclined pack the route's sidelines to cheer on racers, boogie to live entertainment and quaff drinks.

But after more than a decade of carnival-like revelry, marathon organizers are chasing a new image.

They want us to get serious beginning with this year's race, set for March 29. Think stoic athleticism, top runners and world record-breaking times.

Organizers hope the racing community and public will buy into a ``new three-year plan designed to propel the event into the upper echelon of the world's elite races,'' as one worded it.

Upper echelon?

The L.A. Marathon?

Are we talking about the same race that last year featured more than 1,800 in-line skaters? Is this the same nearly circuslike event that represents more modes of transportation than most other marathons? The L.A. Marathon features bicycle, five-kilometer, wheelchair and senior races - and, oh yeah, a 26.2-mile marathon.

Yup, the one and same.

``One of our goals that was evolving was to get back to being a serious marathon in terms of getting elite runners in there and getting some fast times on our course,'' said Marie Patrick, who has been organizing the event since it was founded in 1986 by William Burke. Patrick serves as the marathon's executive vice president.

Anne Roberts agrees. She recruits top runners for a number of road races, including the L.A. Marathon.

``I think that perhaps Dr. Burke and Marie Patrick realized last year that they had created an absolutely wonderful, happening spectacle,'' Roberts said. ``But in order to compete on a sporting level with the other major marathons in the world, they had to upgrade the athletic portions, the actual competition.''

Skates backfire

That's why there'll be no more in-line skating, an event that debuted only a year ago.

``This is L.A., and there are in-line skates all over the place. So we were looking to include another group of athletes,'' Patrick said.

But the marathon's inclusive, benevolent gesture backfired and in retrospect may have been one athletic venue too many.

``I think it was just too much. It really stretched our resources. . . . It was hard to fit it all in,'' Patrick said.

The tried-and-true way to attract top athletes, log fast times on a course and thus gain more clout for a race is to adopt a ``Show me the money!'' approach. In other words, woo the world's best runners with more dough.

``For elite runners, the marathon is their prime payday for the year,'' said Phil Stewart, editor and publisher of Maryland-based Road Race Management, a monthly newsletter for running event organizers.

Because most top runners participate in only a handful of marathons a year, they run in races with the highest possible payoff.

L.A. Marathon organizers have signed on New England-based athletic footwear and apparel company Saucony to help offer the race's largest cash purse ever - a total of $150,000 for winners. The event has come a long way since its first cash purse of $50,200.

Bucks in Beantown

But this year's sum is still small compared with prizes awarded in some of the country's oldest marathons. The Boston Marathon, now in its 102nd year, pays its winners $520,000. That's the largest payout for any marathon in the world - and more than three times what Los Angeles is offering this year.

Most well-established marathons also don't share Los Angeles' open-admission policy.

The New York City Marathon puts a cap on the number of participants from regions around the world - about 30,000 total. The marathon gets about 100,000 applications annually, more than the race can accommodate, Roberts said.

And to participate in the venerable Beantown race, competitors must achieve a qualifying time, usually under four hours, at a previous race.

Not that there are any plans to restrict who can run in the L.A. race or even to scrap the live entertainment, from marimba music to Christian rap. This is, after all, Los Angeles.

``It's a people's marathon. A lot of people run, and it's known for a good time to be had,'' said Henley Gabeau, executive director of the Road Runners Club of America based in Alexandria, Va.

``L.A. - it has a more free-wheeling aspect to it, a come-one, come-all'' attitude, Stewart said.

While the future of the marathon's reputation among top runners remains to be seen, marathon gurus agree that elite runners benefit a race.

Top athletes' aura rubs off on other serious competitors, amateur racers and spectators alike.

``You say, the day he set that record I was in that race,'' said Pamela Cooper of Runner's World magazine and author of ``The American Marathon'' (Syracuse University Press). ``It's something you never forget.''