Downtown Long Beach will be invaded by sweaty people running, cycling or walking through the streets for Saturday’s Aquarium of the Pacific 5k run and for Sunday’s JetBlue Marathon, Half Marathon and Bike Tour.
The Long Beach JetBlue Marathon will be making its way down the streets of Shoreline Village towards the finish line for the 31st year in a row.
With so many attendees, organizers are preparing for heavy traffic and parking by suggesting alternate routes and opening up new locations to park.
“We use city lots and the Pike parking structure which [participants] can reserve in advance plus the Convention Center,” said Gisèle Schaaf, running club and entertainment coordinator for Run Racing. “We have plenty of parking in Long Beach. [You] just need to get there early.”
The marathon program predicts there will be more than 25,000 participants in the actual run, walk and biking events, making this the third largest event in Long Beach, falling right behind the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and Long Beach Pride.
Participants must attend the Long Beach Health Expo, which starts on Friday from noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Convention Center, to pick up shirts, bibs, goodie bags and programs. Other non-athletes are welcomed to attend this free convention.
With this being the 31st Long Beach Marathon, it has been increasing in popularity and it is expected that Mayor Robert Garcia and top sponsors will attend.
“We normally have participants from all 50 states and sometimes groups/running clubs from Europe,” Schaaf said.
The marathon route will be starting on East Shoreline Drive and will go down the beach path. Participants will then run through Marine Stadium, Blair Field, loop around California State University, Long Beach and finally finish back in downtown Long Beach at the Finish Line Festival, according to the Marathon’s website.
After the 13.1 or 26.2-mile races, participants can look forward to the Finish Line Festival that will be buzzing with food trucks, live performances, leg massage tents and more.
The Aquarium of the Pacific 5k runners can be expected to be in the Shoreline area starting at 6 a.m. to pick up packages to the late afternoon when the last one-mile kids run wave begins at noon. After the race, participants can indulge in the Buono’s Carbo Load Dinner Feast from 5 – 7:30 p.m.
“We normally start marathon first since they will take longer to run the course but because of the heat we are giving Half Marathoners the opportunity to start with the marathon at 6 a.m.,” Schaaf said.
Sunday is the main event starting at 5:55 a.m., with the wheelchair-bound participants as the first wave of marathoners. At 6 a.m. the bike tour and marathon will start and finally at 7:30 a.m. the half-marathoners will set off. There is a 7.5-hour course limit for all participants in the marathon and afterwards they can relax at the Finish Line Festival from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
What food trucks are going to be there ??
The typical “roach coach ??