One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Kenyans Win Big At L.A. Marathon
The 2017 Marathon Winners Elisha Barno and Hellen Jepkurgat with Mayor Eric Garcetti. (Photo via LA Marathon Facebook)
The 32nd Annual Los Angeles Marathon occurred Sunday morning, with Elisha Barno and Hellen Jepkurgat emerging victorious for the Men's and Women's Elite Division races, according to the LA Times. Barno and Jepkurgat both hail from Kenya and finished the race at 2:11:53 and 2:34:23, respectively. The men's record holder is Markus Geneti of Ethiopia, who finished in 2:06:35 in 2011. The record holder for the women's race is Edna Kipligat, also of Kenya, who finished in 2:25:38 in 2010. Over 24,000 runners participated in this year's race. It's known as the "Stadium to Sea" race because it starts at Dodger Stadium and traverses the entire city before ending in Santa Monica.
The L.A. Marathon is the fourth largest race in the country and the 10th largest race in the world. Its path from East to West roughly follows Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, and Santa Monica Blvd, with a few diverging paths along the way (even a 26-mile route can only cover a fraction of what actually constitutes Los Angeles). On its website, the race illuminates the history of its route in an attempt to ingrain it in the culture of L.A., but it doesn't do much to offset the real reason Angelenos pay attention: street closures and heavy traffic. How many winners can you name, whereas how many times can you remember spending an extra hour driving home because you forgot about the blocked-off route? It doesn't help that the reason for traffic is semi-professional athletes competing for a $100,000 grand prize who run 5 minute miles and can say they've actually used their feet to get around L.A.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
