San Francisco Marathon Details
By Soumitra Mondal, Gaea News NetworkSunday, July 25, 2010
San Francisco (GaeaTimes.com) - The 32nd San Francisco Marathon was held today, 25th July, 2010 with a record number of 24,000 registered runners participating in the event. The San Francisco Marathon is a series of USATF certified road running events. The Marathon includes a full Marathon, 2 half marathons and a 5K/Progressive marathon.
The full 26.2 mile long Marathon started at 5:30 am with the bunch of fastest leaving first followed by the first half marathon at 6:32 am. The 5K marathon started at 7:45 am. It was followed by the second half marathon at 8:15 am. The Marathon closed at 12:45 pm. The runners will tour Embarcadero, Fisherman’ Wharf then twice passing the Golden Gate Bridge Marin County and proceeded towards Baker Beach AT&T and finally finished at Cupid’s Arrow.
The Marathon has a history since it commenced in 1977 and held each year without failure except in 1988 when it was not held for some reason. On 10 July 1977 Athol Barton won the first Marathon and was prized a T-shirt for his feat. Now all the participants are given a race T-shirt.
However, this classic Marathon has a bunch of problems. The biggest problem is the traffic disruption. The organizers said the roads will be clear by 12:30 pm. The second problem is the Bandits. They are the runners who enter the Marathon without paying any fees or getting registered despite that they enjoy running, drinking free drinks and even Medals. The only identification of the Bandits are that they don’t have timing chips Many runners come to just show themselves on TV without any real enthusiasm for the sports.
Still this Marathon is the Pride of California. It is called the Boston Marathon qualifier and takes the runners through many Historical areas highlighting the beauty of their Mother Country.
