LOS ANGELES—Kenyan John Korir was the men’s winner of today’s 36th annual Los Angeles Marathon, two years after being passed in the final 200 yards, while Natasha Cockram of Wales was the women’s winner.
Korir completed the 26-mile, 385-yard “Stadium to the Stars’' course in an unofficial time of two hours, 12 minutes and 47 seconds. Fellow Kenyan Edwin Kimutai was second in an unofficial time of 2:18:01, while Amanuel Mesel of Eritrea was third in 2:18:17.
Korir finished second in the 2019 race, 6.75 seconds behind fellow Kenyan Elisha Barno. Korir is a younger brother of Wesley Korir, the 2009 and 2010 Los Angeles Marathon winner.
The men’s race has been won by a Kenyan every year since 1999, except for 2011, 2014 and 2020 when it was won by Ethiopians. A U.S. runner last won in 1994.
Cockram had an unofficial time of 2:33:16. Kenyan Antonia Kwambai was second in 2:37:35.
Cockram is the third non-African woman to win in the past 12 races, joining runners from the former Soviet Union who won twice. A U.S. runner last won the women’s race in 1994.
The men’s and women’s winners each received $6,000, the runners-up $2,500 each and third-place finishers $1,500 each.
A field estimated by organizers at more than 13,000 runners, from 50 nations, all 50 states and 127 runners who have run all 35 previous editions of the race, left from Dodger Stadium, then ran through downtown Los Angeles, Echo Park, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood and Brentwood then back through Westwood to Century City.
The race was run under ideal conditions, with an overcast sky and temperatures in the 60s.
The “Stadium to the Stars’' course was used for the first time, with Brentwood its westernmost point, with runners then doubling back on San Vicente, Sepulveda and Santa Monica boulevards, ending at Avenue of the Stars in Century City.
The race was run on the “Stadium to the Sea'' course from Dodger Stadium to near the Santa Monica Pier from 2010-2020.
The change was made because “the dramatically increased costs quoted by the city of Santa Monica for the 2021 running of the marathon, and future events, made remaining in Santa Monica financially infeasible,'' the McCourt Foundation, which conducts the race, said in July 2020 when it announced the switch.
