Honda remains presenting sponsor for L.A. Marathon

American Honda Motor Co. Inc. will remain the presenting sponsor for the Los Angeles Marathon, which will be run on Memorial Day starting in 2009. The Torrance company's Acura brand again will serve as title sponsor for the L.A. Bike Tour.

The sponsorship renewals were announced today by Russ Pillar, president of LA Marathon LLC, the new company funded by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. In September, the new company (known for a brief time as Going the Distance) acquired operating rights to the race from a financially troubled Chicago company.

Here is some of what the news release has to say about the race-date change:

As a condition of their acquisition of the marathon and related assets just six weeks ago, the new race organizers agreed with the City of Los Angeles to move the marathon to President’s Day.

But after extensive conversations with runners, travel and tourism experts, City officials, and others, it became clear that Memorial Day provided far more opportunity and far fewer obstacles to creating a better experience for all constituencies.

The release quotes Pillar as saying that “our new position on the calendar allows us to honor the City’s requirement that we hold the race on a holiday Monday while, at the same time, providing us with a ‘gateway to summer’ event that we can use to highlight the best that Los Angeles has to offer.”

It also quotes Stephan Morikawa, assistant vice president for corporate community relations at American Honda as saying, “Honda and the new management of the Los Angeles Marathon share the same optimistic vision for the future of this great event." 

Since taking over the race in September, LA Marathon LLC has announced two race date changes. The first moved the race from its traditional Sunday in early March to the Monday Presidents Day holiday in mid-February. On Monday, Pillar announced that the race date was moving to Memorial Day, which falls on May 25 in 2009.

The decision to push the race date into late May has sparked concern among some runners that high temperatures could be a problem. Other runners are complaining that moving the race date back more than two months will wreak havoc with training regimes. The new race date also could cause a financial hit for out-of-town runners who've already booked flight and hotel reservations.

Pillar on Thursday also confirmed that long-time marathon event manager Nick Curl has been re-hired to oversee race operations. Curl had been affiliated with the L.A. Marathon for more than a dozen years.

“I’m excited to be back,” Curl said in a statement. “We’ve assembled a great team and we’re planning to do great things.”

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Runners near the finish line during the 23rd running of the Los Angeles Marathon on March 3, 2008. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Jake]

It's obvious that they didn't actually consult any runners before making this decision. Which is a shame, since none of them will show up given the high temperatures in May and the much better Rock 'n Roll Marathon a week later. I predict the number of entrants will be cut in half this year and the race will wither away from 2010. What a waste.