Gordon Shatters Course Record at Surf City USA Marathon

Date: February 4, 2014

Gordon completed the 26.2 mile oceanfront course in 2:39:58, bettering the previous mark of 2:56:28 and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Team Trials

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – Emily Gordon of Los Angeles, 21, won the 18^th Surf City USA Marathon on Super Bowl Sunday, shattering the women’s course record by nearly 17 minutes. Gordon finished the race in 2 hours, 39 minutes, 58 seconds.

Charles White, 24, of Huntington Beach, won the men’s marathon with a time of 2:33:21, three minutes ahead of runner-up Jim Lubinski, 35, of Los Angeles.  The perfect temperatures (high of 60 degrees) and light breezes made for a very fast day for thousands of runners, with many personal bests.

"Congratulations to the winners and all 18,000-plus finishers of the 18th Surf City USA full and half marathon," said Surf City Marathon President Brian Pendleton.  "It was a spectacular race and conditions couldn't have been better for the runners and their supporters."

 

Gordon completed the 26.2 mile oceanfront course in 2:39:58, bettering the previous mark of 2:56:28 and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Team Trials.  She was the third overall finisher and pocketed the $1000 course record bonus. 

“I only recently began training for marathon running and set my goal of hitting the Olympic trials time in November,” said Gordon. “My coach and I agreed there was no better course than the beautiful, flat, and spectator-friendly Surf City Marathon course.  I got to have family and friends supporting me at multiple places throughout the race in addition to the very ecstatic volunteer support crew. There is nowhere better than to make my dream a reality than Surf City, USA!”

Cheyne Inman of Vacaville won the men’s half marathon in a time of 1:09:51.  The 28 year-old finished ahead of Alan Campos, 25, of Mammoth Lakes.  Rounding out the all-California winner’s board was Mandy Grantz, 27 of Pasadena, who won the women’s half marathon in 1:16:05, just ahead of second-place finisher Liz Camy, 30, of Camarillo.

California’s largest combined oceanfront marathon and half-marathon featured nearly 21,000 pre-registered runners and 18,000 finishers from all 50 states and 33 foreign countries.  A crowd of more than 45,000 lined Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach for near-perfect racing conditions.  An additional 50,000 spectators attended the Active Lifestyle Expo on Friday and Saturday. 

For the ninth consecutive year, the Surf City USA Marathon served as a fundraiser for the Free Wheelchair Mission, an Irvine-based nonprofit group that builds and delivers specially engineered wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations.  “Run for Mobility” raised more than $1.7 million during its first eight years.

18th Surf City USA Marathon

Huntington Beach, CA, Sunday, February 2, 2014

Men’s Marathon

1) Charles White, age 24, Huntington Beach, California (2:33:21)

2) Jim Lubinski, age 35, Los Angeles, California (2:36:20)

3) Christopher Collins, age 21, Yorba Linda, California (2:44:19)

Women’s Marathon

1) Emily Gordon, age 21, Los Angeles, California (2:39:58)

2) Kristen Soloway, age 39, Davis, California (2:54:35)

3) Dolores Valencia, age 49, Chino Hills, California (2:58:48)

Men’s Half Marathon

1) Cheyne Inman, age 28, Vacaville, California (1:09:51)

2) Alan Campos, age 25, Mammoth Lakes, California (1:11:23)

3) Oliver Lange, age 21, Salt Lake, Utah (1:11:31)

Women’s Half Marathon

1) Mandy Grantz, age 27, Pasadena, California (1:16:05)

2) Liz Camy, age 30, Camarillo, California (1:16:21)

3) Joanna Zeiger, age 43, Boulder, Colorado (1:18:54)

Find full results at: www.runsurfcity.com

this article Courtesy of Running USA wire