Kenyans dominated Sunday’s 39th Los Angeles Marathon, taking the top two spots in the men’s field and the top spot in the women’s race in the second-largest field in the event’s history.
Dominic Ngeno was the men’s winner in 2 hours, 11 minutes, while Stacy Ndiwa captured her second consecutive women’s title in 2:25:28.97.
Ngeno finished 5.5 seconds ahead of his countryman Cosmas Kiplimo, who finished second in 2:11:05.55. Olga Mazuronak a Belarusian who lives in Irvine, was second for the women, completing the 26-mile, 385-yard “Stadium of the Stars” course in 2:25:48.65.
Mazuronak, the fifth-place finisher in the 2016 and 2021 Olympic marathons, and American Makena Morley led a six-woman pack. After Morley dropped back near Mile 16, Mazuronak led nearly every step of the way until Ndiwa accelerated at mile 25 along Santa Monica Boulevard to seal the victory.
Ngeno used a 4:48 mile to break up the five-man men’s pack past mile 20, with only Kiplimo able to match the move. The two matched strides until Ngeno took the lead after the turn onto San Vicente Boulevard in Brentwood.
Ndiwa also won a $10,000 bonus for winning the Marathon Chase, in which the elite women start ahead of the men, with the overall first finisher receiving the bonus. The men started earlier than planned but Ndiwa won the chase for the second consecutive year.
The planned 17-minute time difference was “determined by a close assessment of the makeup of this year’s professional fields,” according to veteran running analyst Toni Reavis, who has been a commentator on each Los Angeles Marathon telecast.
The difference was initially going to be 17 minutes, 15 seconds, but adjusted after Belay Asefa Bedada of Ethiopia, who had the fastest personal best time among the men’s field, had to withdraw after contracting typhoid.
The chase was part of the marathon from 2004 to 2014, with women winning seven times and men four. It was discontinued in 2015 when the race served as the USA Marathon Championships. It was revived in 2022 with women winning all three times since its revival.
One person required “life-threatening” medical care, according to Unified LA, which provides emergency public information regarding large scale incidents and planned events where multiple Los Angeles area agencies are under a Joint Information Center.
Nine people were hospitalized, according to Unified LA.
Additional information was not immediately available.
The marathon reached its capacity of 26,000 entrants Friday, trailing only the 2020 race, which had 27,150 entrants, organizers said.
The race has topped 20,000 entrants 22 of the past 25 years, with the only exceptions coming in 2009, when the race was run on Memorial Day for the lone time, 2021, when it was delayed until November because of restrictions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, and 2022 when it returned to its traditional March date.
Dan Cruz, the marathon’s head of communications, attributed the rising fields to the popularity of social running clubs throughout Greater Los Angeles and the participation of the disc jockey and music producer Diplo in last year’s race.
According to Cruz, 40% of the participants were running their first marathon while 56% had not run the Los Angeles Marathon before.
The race drew runners from all 50 states and 70 nations, three more than last year, Cruz said.
The finishers ranged in age from 12 to 85, according to information provided by race organizers. The 12-year-old finishers were Angel Shahinyan and Leidaly Gaona, whose hometowns were not listed. The 85-year-old finishers were Bob Norton of Huntington Beach, Takuji Kasamatsu of Pasadena and Kathy Kim of Hollywood.
The race began at Dodger Stadium at 6:30 a.m. with the wheelchair racers and a temperature of 53 degrees, according to Unified LA.
The hand crank racers started at 6:35 a.m., followed by the women’s elite field at 6:43 a.m. and the rest of the field at 7 a.m.
Mayor Karen Bass was the honorary starter.
From Dodger Stadium, runners headed through downtown Los Angeles, Echo Park, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood and Brentwood then back through Westwood to Century City, with the finish line on Santa Monica Boulevard between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East.
The course was unchanged from 2023, the first time since 2020 the course has not changed, Cruz said.
Joan Benoit Samuelson, the winner of the inaugural Olympic women’s marathon during the 1984 Los Angeles Games, held the finish line tape.
The men’s and women’s winners will each receive $6,000, the second-place finishers $2,500 and third-place finishers $1,500. The men’s and women’s wheelchair winners will each receive $2,500.
The men’s race has been won by a Kenyan 22 times since 1999, with Ethiopians winning the other four, including 2023 when Jemal Yimer won. Yimer opted to run in Sunday’s Seoul Marathon instead of defending his title. A U.S. runner last won in 1994.
Hassen Hassen of Seattle was the top American male finisher Sunday, finishing sixth in 2:22:18 in his first marathon.
“It was good experience,” Hassen said. “Hopefully (I) can come back next year and have a better time.”
Hassen said after the eighth mile he got “a really bad cramp.”
“I had my gels,” Hassen said. “They kind of helped out a little bit.”
African women have won 12 of the last 15 races, including in 2023 when Ndiwa won in a personal best two hours, 31 minutes.
A U.S. runner last won the women’s race in 1994.
Morley of Bozeman, Montana was the top U.S. finisher in the women’s race, finishing fifth in 2:30:24 in her second marathon. She bettered her time in her other marathon, 2:30:28 in the 2022 Chicago Marathon.
“I had a big surge on mile 15, then dropped off around mile 16,” the 27-year-old Morley said. “I tried to kind of hang in there but those hills are definitely getting to me. I didn’t do a ton of hill practice for this, probably should. The last six are pretty tough so I was happy to be able to kind of finish strong as I did.”
Mile 15 begins just west of Alta Loma Road on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, heads west to San Vicente Boulevard, then south to Santa Monica Boulevard, ending just west of Robertson Boulevard
Mile 16 continues along Santa Monica Boulevard to Doheny Drive, bordering Beverly Hills, south to Burton Way, and ends one block west at Oakhurst Drive.
The field included 95 legacy runners — 84 men and 11 women — who have run all 38 previous editions of the race. Golden Stars were placed along the course in their honor as a precursor to the Los Angeles Marathon Hall of Fame.
The late Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge was also honored during Sunday’s race. A uniquely designed Golden Star was presented to his family during Saturday’s news conference and the race’s mile 7 has been renamed as the Tom LaBonge Mile.
Mile 7 begins on Glendale Boulevard, just before Santa Ynez Street, in Echo Park, includes the Angelus Church, and ends on Sunset Boulevard, just before Silver Lake Boulevard.
There were more than 3,500 runners from Students Run LA, an after-school mentoring and physical fitness program for at-risk middle and high school students.
The race had 92 charity partners, with runners raising more than $3 million, organizers said.