About 17,000 people set off on a 26.2-mile loop through the city Monday in the Los Angeles Marathon.
Wesley Korir of Kenya and Tatiana Petrova of Russia won the event.
Korir broke from the pack, and passed Petrova about 24 miles into the race. His final time of 2:08:23 broke the old record, set on the same race course, by 18 seconds.
"Tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to win at all," Korir said. "This was the biggest blessing ever in my life, it was the best."
Korir, a University of Louisville student athlete, said he was singing and praying during the race. His prize package, including a new car, totaled about $189,000.
The elite women were started nearly 17 minutes ahead of the men, to provide for excitement at the finish line, and a $100,000 prize to the winner of the gender race. It was run under cloudy skies and perfect running weather.
Petrova had the third-best women's marathon in L.A.: 2:25:56. She said the primary concern was leading the womens' pack, not beating the man. "I didn't know how hard they were going to push me," she said through an interpreter.
Packs of about 12 runners led the mens' division at the halfway mark, and a similar clump of women shared the lead at their halfway point. But last year's winner, Petrova emerged from the women's pack to lead at the 16-mile mark.
About 100 participants were treated by paramedics but no one was seriously injured, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devin Gale said. About half of those paramedics looked at required some form of treatment, said Gale. He said 13 people were transported to hospitals for ailments ranging from breathing difficulties to muscle injuries.
This year's race abandoned the Universal City starting line used for two years and shifted the start and finish lines back to Figueroa Street downtown.
Change of Date
Monday's marathon is the first on a Memorial Day and likely the last.
The later date -- the race has been run on the first Sunday in March traditionally -- has drawn criticism from runners because of the likelihood of warmer weather, which would make the 26-mile, 385-yard race harder to run. And some City Council members were unhappy with the change, too.
The race had been run in March, usually on the first Sunday of the month, from its inception in 1986 through last year.
When the rights to the race were bought last year by a group controlled by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, the City Council stipulated that the race be shifted to a Monday holiday to limit the impact on Sunday morning church services.
Ministers with churches on or near the course had said for years the necessary street closings kept would-be churchgoers away. The ministers claimed church attendance typically dropped by about 50 percent on the day of the race.
This year's race was first moved to Presidents Day. In November, it was re-scheduled for Memorial Day after traffic experts told race organizers it would create fewer disruptions, because fewer people work on Memorial Day than Presidents Day, Los Angeles Marathon President Russ Pillar said in November.
The two shifts drew complaints from runners who twice had to change their training plans.
Holding the race on Memorial Day was called "really kind of an insult and disrespect to our veterans and those who have served this country," by City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.
In April, Hahn and Councilman Tom LaBonge introduced a motion calling for city officials to renegotiate the contract with LA Marathon LLC to move the 2010 marathon back to the first Sunday in March, citing the weather and respect for veterans as concerns.
The City Council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee approved the motion May 6. It will next be heard by the Budget and Finance Committee.
At the City Council's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee hearing on the motion, Howard Sunkin, senior vice president of The McCourt Group, the holding company for McCourt's various interests, said scheduling the marathon for Memorial Day was "a wrong decision."
At a Friday news conference, Pillar said he was hopeful this "will be the last marathon to be run in May, although there were a variety of constituencies, including elected officials, who have something to say about that."
"We think the March date, specifically a Sunday in March, will create an environment that we can create a better experience for all participants," Pillar said.
About the Course
The marathon returned to a loop course starting at Figueroa and 5th streets in downtown Los Angeles, heading south to Exposition Park, then west to Leimert Park, the Crenshaw district, hitting the half-way point at Venice Boulevard and Burnside Avenue in the Mid-City area.
The second half of the course includes the Pico-Robertson district, Little Ethiopia, Park La Brea, Hancock Park, Country Club Park, Koreatown and ends in front of the Richard J. Riordan Central Library at Flower and Fifth streets.
The past two years the race started adjacent to Universal Studios, with a course designed along the Metro Red Line and ended in front of the library.
Monday's course was used for the 2005 and 2006 races and resulted in the fastest men's and women's times.
"When we spent time with the runners ... we heard that they didn't like the course that it had been moved to," Pillar said. "And when we canvassed the wider running community, we also heard that this loop course that we're running this year happened to be a favorite of all possible options that they had been given in the past."
Pillar said when he met with McCourt last year to discussing financing the purchase of the race, both saw the marathon "as a fallen civic asset that really ought to be rebuilt."
Plans for the future include a course that "highlights the best of what Los Angeles has to offer," which would take the race outside Los Angeles' city limits for the first time, Pillar said, declining to provide specifics.
