WAY COOL L.A. MARATHON; SPRING RACE STARTS OFF IN WINTRY TEMPERATURE.Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer It may be spring, but it was hard to tell early Sunday when thousands of athletes from as far away as Africa and Japan hit the streets downtown for the chilliest 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 ever. When the race began at 8:45 a.m., it was 45 degrees - the coldest start since the first race in 1986. The 1991 and 1997 races had shared the previous record of 54 degrees. Most racers however, including Moxy de Mira of West Hills, endured the cold by jogging in place until Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. fired the starting gun around 9 a.m. ``It was a little bit chilly and a little breezy,'' said de Mira, who brought along a raincoat, sweat shirt and gloves just in case. But a few runners protected themselves against the morning chill by donning plastic trash bags with holes for their heads and arms to pop through. ``It keeps the wind off,'' explained a runner as he crossed the starting line starting line n. Sports The point or line at which a race begins. Noun 1. starting line - a line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game scratch line, scratch, start on Sixth Street. Later, ``you just tear it off and throw it away,'' he added, jogging by. Racers and marathon organizers weren't the only ones thinking about the weather Sunday. Near the finish line, physician Joel Geiderman of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a world-renowned hospital located in Los Angeles, California. History Cedars-Sinai is the result of a merger in 1961 between two major Los Angeles hospitals, Cedars of Lebanon and Mount Sinai Home for the Incurables, with Steve Broidy as kept an eye on the runners. Geiderman said although a cool, sunny day minus rain means fewer cases of dehydration and blisters, respectively, the chances of hypothermia hypothermia Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments. increase. ``They're wet, and their blood vessels Blood vessels Tubular channels for blood transport, of which there are three principal types: arteries, capillaries, and veins. Only the larger arteries and veins in the body bear distinct names. are dilated dilated a state of dilatation. dilated cardiomyopathy see congestive cardiomyopathy. dilated pupil syndrome see feline dysautonomia (Key-Gaskell syndrome). ,'' explained Geiderman, who helped supervise a team of 10 emergency doctors and more than 15 nurses. To prevent as much body-temperature loss as possible, volunteers draped drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. sheets of Mylar across the shoulders of runners who stood sweating in the cool shade of downtown high-rise buildings. The medical team worked out of a tent with a sign that read, ``Injured runners only'' - a stark reminder of what 26.2 miles of exertion can do to the human body. One runner inside the tent lay on his back, his knees bent, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed heavily. Another runner approached Geiderman and said, ``I twisted my right ankle.'' But Sunday's marathon was about more than athleticism. It was about having fun and acting silly in ways that seem possible only in L.A. There was Junichi Kajiyama and Junkoh Miyakita, both from Japan, who ran with papier-mache hats resembling the bulbous bulbous /bul·bous/ (bul´bus) 1. bulbar. 2. shaped like, bearing, or arising from a bulb. bulbous having the form or nature of a bulb; bearing or arising from a bulb. heads of medieval samurai soldiers. Two guys ran with tall, yellow-and-red hats made famous in Dr. Seuss stories. There were also Elvis Presley impersonators. And then there was Johnny Roberts of England, who ran and walked the course wearing an 8-foot-tall, 30-pound, rubber-foam rhinoceros rhinoceros, massive hoofed mammal of Africa, India, and SE Asia, characterized by a snout with one or two horns. The rhinoceros family, along with the horse and tapir families, forms the order of odd-toed hoofed mammals. costume to raise money and awareness for Save the Rhino Save the Rhino International (SRI), a UK-based conservation charity, is Europe’s largest single-species rhino charity, in terms of funds raised and grants made, and in terms of profile and positioning. International. The London-based organization fights to preserve wildlife in Africa including the rhino. Roberts ran with two runners dressed up as zoo keepers to help him drink and eat during the race. Roberts has worn and competed in the rhino costume in marathons in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of and London. It was the costume's first appearance in the L.A. Marathon. There was all this wackiness and more, despite efforts by marathon organizers to make the event more serious. There were no in-line skaters this time around and more prize money for winners. In the end, the race was distinctively L.A., down to music choices. More than 17,000 runners and walkers began the marathon as Randy Newman's ``I Love L.A.'' pumped through speakers. A Marine standing in the middle of the starting area gave passers-by high-fives with a white-gloved hand. Sports hero Muhammad Ali pointed his right index finger at the athletes, as if to say, ``You're the man!'' or ``You're the woman!'' Moments before the marathon's start, thousands of athletes and spectators grasped hands, raised them over their heads and held a moment of silence for three Los Angeles firefighters and a Sun Valley girl who were killed in a helicopter crash last week near Griffith Park. CAPTION(S): 5 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color) Runners fill Figueroa Boulevard at the start of Sunday morning's 13th annual Los Angeles Marathon. More than 17,000 entered the race. Tina Gerson/Daily News (2 -- color) A runner wearing an inflatable fish was one of the race's wacky entrants. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (3 -- color) Boxing legend Muhammad Ali kisses a child after starting the race. Tina Gerson/Daily News (4 -- color) The leading pack of L.A. Marathon runners passes Mann's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. (5 -- color) Race volunteer Erin Kennedy treats a runner's aching leg muscle. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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