2015 USATF Marathon Championships set for Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles will host the 2015 USATF Marathon Championships this March, USA Track & Field announced Wednesday. A total prize purse of $150,000 will be awarded to Americans vying for national titles in the marathon, in addition to a guaranteed prize purse of $110,000 for the overall field. 

Marathon organizer LA MARATHON LLC will host the 2015 USATF Marathon Championships March 15 as part of the ASICS LA Marathon. The Championships will be held 11 months before LA hosts the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for men and women on Feb. 13, 2016. 

”We are very excited for Los Angeles to host the 2015 USATF Marathon Championships,” USATF CEO Max Siegel said. “Having an opportunity to collaborate on the race will help set the stage for a spectacular Olympic Trials Marathon. We look forward to working with LA MARATHON LLC in March and beyond.” 

“Hosting the 2015 USATF Marathon Championships will be a proud moment in Los Angeles’ rich marathon history,” stated Tracey Russell, Chief Executive of LA MARATHON LLC. “We look forward to showcasing our nation’s top marathoners in 2015 while setting the stage for the 2016 US Olympic Trials Marathon.” 

The ASICS LA Marathon’s “Stadium to the Sea” course, which takes runners past nearly every major Los Angeles landmark, begins at Dodger Stadium and winds through historic neighborhoods in Downtown LA, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica before finishing at the Santa Monica Pier. 

The USATF Marathon Championships were last held in Los Angeles in 1994 for men, when Paul Pilkington ran 2:12:13 to claim the national title. Both men and women will compete in the 2015 edition of the championships 

Registration for the event opens Wednesday, October 1 at 9 a.m. PDT. 

About USA Track & Field 

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org. 

About LA Marathon LLC 

LA MARATHON LLC, a subsidiary of McCourt Global, creates world-class experiences that ignite passion in athletes and connect communities through the transformative power of sports. The ASICS LA Marathon is among the largest marathons in the country with more than 25,000 participants, thousands 

of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of spectators. The “Stadium to the Sea” course, starting at Dodger Stadium and finishing near the Santa Monica Pier, is one of the most scenic in the world, taking runners on a tour of Los Angeles past every major landmark. LA MARATHON LLC will host the 2016 Olympic Team Trials for Men’s and Women’s Marathon, awarded by USA Track & Field and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which will take place in Los Angeles February 13, 2016. For more information, please visit www.lamarathon.com. 

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