San Francisco Marathon
Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Marathon is a series of USATF certified road running
events held each July or August in San Francisco, California
that include a full marathon, two half marathon
s, and a 5K
. Except for in 1988, the marathon has been held annually since 1977. The current marathon course forms a loop that starts and finishes on the Embarcadero
near the Ferry Building
. The course runs past many notable landmarks in San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf
, Aquatic Park
, the Golden Gate Bridge
, Golden Gate Park
, and AT&T Park
. The course briefly enters Marin County at the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The first San Francisco Marathon was organized by the Pamakids Runners Club. Athol Barton, a taxicab driver from Reno, Nevada
, won the inaugural on July 10, 1977 in a time of 2:24:59. Less than 900 ran this inaugural race. The event's all-time record for marathon finishers came in 1983 with 7,231. An estimated 7,800 runners participated in the various events in 2004 and 11,290 in 2005. This number had increased to approximately 19,000 in 2008 and 21,000 in 2009 The 2009 event was hosted by ultramarathon
er Dean Karnazes
and Runner's World
columnist
Bart Yasso.
The marathon course has undergone a number of changes since its inception. In the late 1980s, the start was moved from Marin County to San Francisco. In 1999, race organizers made a number of changes to make the course faster. That year the course was altered to start and end near the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park and the run across the Golden Gate Bridge was eliminated. Previous routes have taken the marathon along the Great Highway
. In 2002, the start/finish at Golden Gate Park was moved to the Embarcadero.
The San Francisco Marathon is a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon
. In 2005, 356 of the 4,873 finishers qualified for Boston. Of the 4,021 finishers in 2006, 277 qualified.
The purse
has also varied from year to year. In 1977, Barton took home a t-shirt
for his efforts. When Pete Pfitzinger
won in 1986, he earned $5,000 and a new car. Although many top runners were attracted to the $35,000 purse that was offered in 1998 ($10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place, $2,500 for third place), no prize money was offered from 1999 through 2001. From 2002 to 2004, $10,000 was divided among the winners. Prize money was not offered from 2005 to 2008, primarily due to lack of large sponsors. Race organizers have not revealed whether prize money will be offered in 2009. Without the purse that comes with a large sponsor, the San Francisco Marathon has difficulty attracting world-class marathoners.
The San Francisco marathon is produced by the non-profit
Committed 2 Community (C2C), and all net proceeds from the event benefit C2C programs. The primary beneficiary of the San Francisco Marathon is the inner-city youth running program, Youth Run4Fun. In 2002, organizers created the Cause to Run fundraising program. The program has helped raise $10 million for other local non-profit organizations.
In 2002, the San Francisco Marathon was the fictionalized backdrop for an episode of Monk
entitled "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man."
Road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...
events held each July or August in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
that include a full marathon, two half marathon
Half marathon
A half marathon is a road running event of . It is half the distance of a marathon and usually run on roads. Participation in half marathons has grown steadily recently. One of the main reasons for this is that it is a challenging distance, but does not require the same level of training that a...
s, and a 5K
5K
5K or 5-K may refer to:* Gnome-Rhône 5K, a radial aircraft engine* 5000 metres race* Hifly IATA airline designator* The Five Ks in Sikhism* 2010 debut album by Dutch DJ, Sander Kleinenberg...
. Except for in 1988, the marathon has been held annually since 1977. The current marathon course forms a loop that starts and finishes on the Embarcadero
The Embarcadero (San Francisco)
The Embarcadero is the eastern waterfront and roadway of the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, along San Francisco Bay, constructed atop an engineered seawall on reclaimed land, and derives its name from the Spanish verb embarcar, meaning "to embark"...
near the Ferry Building
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay and a shopping center located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California. On top of the building is a large clock tower, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city...
. The course runs past many notable landmarks in San Francisco including Fisherman's Wharf
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California
Fisherman's Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street...
, Aquatic Park
Aquatic Park Historic District
Aquatic Park Historic District is a building complex on the San Francisco Bay waterfront in San Francisco, California, United States. It is located within San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and is itself a National Historic Landmark....
, the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
, and AT&T Park
AT&T Park
AT&T Park is a ballpark located in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, at the corner of Third and King Streets, it has served as the home of the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball since 2000....
. The course briefly enters Marin County at the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The first San Francisco Marathon was organized by the Pamakids Runners Club. Athol Barton, a taxicab driver from Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, won the inaugural on July 10, 1977 in a time of 2:24:59. Less than 900 ran this inaugural race. The event's all-time record for marathon finishers came in 1983 with 7,231. An estimated 7,800 runners participated in the various events in 2004 and 11,290 in 2005. This number had increased to approximately 19,000 in 2008 and 21,000 in 2009 The 2009 event was hosted by ultramarathon
Ultramarathon
An ultramarathon is any sporting event involving running longer than the traditional marathon length of .There are two types of ultramarathon events: those that cover a specified distance, and events that take place during specified time...
er Dean Karnazes
Dean Karnazes
Dean Karnazes , is an American ultramarathon runner, and author of Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner, which details ultra endurance running for the general public...
and Runner's World
Runner's World
Runner's World is a globally circulated monthly magazine for runners of all skills sets, published by Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Bart Yasso.
The marathon course has undergone a number of changes since its inception. In the late 1980s, the start was moved from Marin County to San Francisco. In 1999, race organizers made a number of changes to make the course faster. That year the course was altered to start and end near the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park and the run across the Golden Gate Bridge was eliminated. Previous routes have taken the marathon along the Great Highway
Great Highway
The Great Highway is a road in San Francisco that forms the city's western edge along the Pacific coast. It runs for approximately next to Ocean Beach...
. In 2002, the start/finish at Golden Gate Park was moved to the Embarcadero.
The San Francisco Marathon is a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon
Boston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
. In 2005, 356 of the 4,873 finishers qualified for Boston. Of the 4,021 finishers in 2006, 277 qualified.
The purse
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
has also varied from year to year. In 1977, Barton took home a t-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
for his efforts. When Pete Pfitzinger
Pete Pfitzinger
Peter Dickson Pfitzinger is a former American distance runner, who later became an author and exercise physiologist...
won in 1986, he earned $5,000 and a new car. Although many top runners were attracted to the $35,000 purse that was offered in 1998 ($10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place, $2,500 for third place), no prize money was offered from 1999 through 2001. From 2002 to 2004, $10,000 was divided among the winners. Prize money was not offered from 2005 to 2008, primarily due to lack of large sponsors. Race organizers have not revealed whether prize money will be offered in 2009. Without the purse that comes with a large sponsor, the San Francisco Marathon has difficulty attracting world-class marathoners.
The San Francisco marathon is produced by the non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
Committed 2 Community (C2C), and all net proceeds from the event benefit C2C programs. The primary beneficiary of the San Francisco Marathon is the inner-city youth running program, Youth Run4Fun. In 2002, organizers created the Cause to Run fundraising program. The program has helped raise $10 million for other local non-profit organizations.
In 2002, the San Francisco Marathon was the fictionalized backdrop for an episode of Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
entitled "Mr. Monk and the Marathon Man."
List of winners
| Date | Men | Country | Time | Women | Country | Time | Finishers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keith Bechtol | 2:23:28 | Emily Hardin | 2:51:54 | 5992 | |||
| Andrew Cook | 2:26:32 | Yoko Shibui Yoko Shibui is a long-distance runner from Japan, who is competing in the 5000 and 10,000 metres as well as the marathon race. She holds the Japanese record over 10,000 m with her best time of 30:48.89 minutes... |
2:46:34 | ||||
| Chad Worthen | 2:31:52 | Lauren Gustafson | 2:52:33 | 4,354 4,447 | |||
| Andrew Cook | 2:25:57 CR | Yolanda Flamino | 2:43:41 CR | 4,250 4,275 | |||
| Andrew Cook | 2:26:46 | Julia Stamps | 2:54:55 | 4,021 4,062 | |||
| Tony Torres | 2:31:57 | Sarah Hallas | 2:56:55 | 4,869 4,873 4,918 | |||
| John Weru | 2:33:41 | Susan Loken | 2:50:21 | 2,665 | |||
| Patrick Kamau | 2:35:11 | Lucy Carr | 3:02:00 | 1,891 | |||
| Nate Bowen | 2:31:46 | Magdalena Lewy Magdalena Lewy-Boulet Magdalena Lewy-Boulet is an American runner from Oakland, California. Born in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Poland, Lewy-Boulet became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001. Lewy Boulet finished second at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon, held on April 20, 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts, in... |
2:50:11 | 1,920 | |||
| Vytautas Ezerskis | 2:30:53 | Micha Lowe | 3:12:10 | 2,249 | |||
| Michael Buchanan | 2:32:49 | Lisa Murphy | 3:08:15 | 2,345 | |||
| Brad Hawthorne | 2:24:36 | Patti Smith | 3:09:44 | ||||
| Hamid Oubadriss | 2:23:54 | Salina Chirchir | 2:45:36 | ||||
| Hamid Miloudi | 2:26:49 | Kristen Orre | 3:02:33 | ||||
| Brad Lael | 2:37:27 | Margee Brown | 2:57:45 | ||||
| Hector Lopez | 2:23:38 | Lisa Kelp | 2:51:12 | ||||
| Patrick Muturi | 2:17:34 | Karolina Szabo Karolina Szabó Karolina Szabó is a retired female Hungarian athlete, who specialized in the long-distance running events.Szabo was born in Dunaföldvár, Tolna... |
2:44:34 | ||||
| Driss Dacha | 2:20:02 | Tatiana Titova | 2:40:32 | ||||
| Sergio Jimenez | 2:16:44 | Irina Bogacheva | 2:36:54 | ||||
| Daniel Martinez | 2:15:31 | Lesley Ann Lehane Lesley Lehane Lesley Lehane is a retired American long distance runner.-High school career:Lehane graduated from Peabody Veterans Memorial High School class of 1981, winning back to back to back cross country individual state titles from her sophomore through senior years... |
2:35:33 | ||||
| Antonio Niemczak Antoni Niemczak Antoni Niemczak is a retired long-distance runner from Poland, who won the inaugural 1984 edition of the Vienna Marathon, clocking 2:12:17 on March 25, 1984. He finished in eighth place at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, West Germany. His best marathon time is 2:09:41, which he ran... |
2:13:48 | Janis Klecker Janis Klecker Janis Kristin Klecker is a former American long-distance runner who is a two-time United States national champion in the marathon. Klecker competed in the marathon at the 1992 Summer Olympics... |
2:39:52 | ||||
| Ernest Tjela | 2:15:01 | Stephanie Robertson | 3:09:08 | ||||
| 1988 (not held) | |||||||
| Mehmet Terzi Mehmet Terzi Mehmet Terzi is a former medal-winning long-distance runner from Turkey, who specialized in marathon. Since 2004, he serves as the president of the Turkish Athletic Federation .... |
2:14:07 | Eileen Claugus | 2:39:02 | ||||
| Pete Pfitzinger Pete Pfitzinger Peter Dickson Pfitzinger is a former American distance runner, who later became an author and exercise physiologist... |
2:13:29 | Maria Trujillo María Trujillo María Trujillo Tenorio de Rios is a retired female marathon runner from Mexico, who later represented the United States. She won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 1995 Pan American Games... |
2:37:58 | ||||
| Ric Sayre | 2:15:07 | Kersti Jakobsen | 2:38:04 | ||||
| Simon Kigen | 2:10:18 | Katy Schilly Katy Schilly Catherine Schilly-Laetsch is a former American long-distance runner who is a United States national champion in the marathon. Schilly attended Iowa State University where she was an All-American in track and field and cross country. At the 1984 California International Marathon, she set a course... |
2:35:56 | ||||
| Pete Pfitzinger Pete Pfitzinger Peter Dickson Pfitzinger is a former American distance runner, who later became an author and exercise physiologist... |
2:14:45 | Janis Klecker Janis Klecker Janis Kristin Klecker is a former American long-distance runner who is a two-time United States national champion in the marathon. Klecker competed in the marathon at the 1992 Summer Olympics... |
2:51:12 | 7,231 | |||
| Miguel Tibaduiza | 2:14:32 | Nancy Ditz Nancy Ditz Nancy Jane Ditz-Mosbacher is a former American long-distance runner who is a United States national champion in the marathon. Ditz competed in the marathon at the 1988 Summer Olympics.... |
2:44:34 | ||||
| Harold Schulz | 2:15:17 | Laurie Binder Laurie Binder Laurie Binder is an American long distance runner. She is a former American record holder in the Marathon, 2:35:08 set in 1982... |
2:40:32 | ||||
| Antonio Ramirez | 2:18:15 | Joann Dahlkoetter | 2:36:54 | ||||
| John Moreno | 2:18:54 | Carol Young | 2:35:33 | ||||
| Steven Palladino | 2:21:15 | Sue Petersen | 2:39:52 | ||||
| Athol Barton | 2:24:59 | Tena Harms | 3:09:08 |
- CR = course record since the addition of the Golden Gate Bridge out and back
Country summary
| Country | Male champions | Female champions | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 26 | 43 | |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |