SANTA CLARITA RACE ATTRACTS THOUSANDS.

Byline: Sharon Cotal Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Registration hit a high at last year's Santa Clarita Marathon with nearly 2,500 registered runners, and even more are expected to join this year's event, which includes the marathon, half-marathon, a 5K and Kid K.

People come from all over the world and all over the valley, to participate in what has come to be know as the ``Fall Marathon.''

Last year's top male finisher was Jaime Ortiz of Lynwood with a time of 2:36:40, and the top female finisher was Ruth Vomund with 2:58:36.

The oldest runner registered for the full marathon to date is Kenneth Butts, 76, of Bell Canyon, and the youngest is Manuel Ceja, 17, of Pacoima.

Ki Lee, 85, of Fullerton is the oldest runner registered in the half-marathon, and his wife, Kyu Lee, 84, is the oldest runner in the 5K. They will be joined by youngest runners Jennifer Christman, 14, of Simi Valley in the half-marathon, and three Santa Clarita 6-year-olds - Linnea Herren, Billy Shipman and Brandon Bitner - in the 5K.

The oldest runner registered for the Kid K is Alexandrea Brown, 12, and the youngest ``runner'' will be Kristina Lee Fleetwood, age 10 months, both of Canyon Country.

Fresh from Australia where they competed in the 2000 Olympics, double gold medalist Anthony Ervin and fifth-place discus thrower Adam Setliff will participate in the Kid K event, a noncompetitive run for children under the age of 12.

Several longtime marathon runners will take part in the Santa Clarita marathon, including Shiv Shankar of Canoga Park, who has run in 86 marathons, Jon Mahoney of British Columbia with 98 marathons and Melvin Sandvig of Agoura Hills with 83 marathons.

Chuck Teixeira of Valencia is hoping to continue his five-year tradition of finishing in the top three places in the Santa Clarita Marathon. Teixeira finished third in 1995, second in 1996, first in 1997, third in 1998 and second in 1999.