Posted: February 2, 2005

Athletics: LA Marathon Field WIll Include 289 "Legacy Runners"

The Los Angeles Marathon may never be the event where world records are broken. Its course is hilly and the weather can be hot. But does the agony of “challenge” bond runners? Is there such a thing as loyalty to the course?

There are 289 men and women who will gather on Sunday, March 6 to commemorate their 20th year of running the Los Angeles Marathon. Not THE 20th running of the Marathon… but THEIR 20th running of it.

Among the country’s other top three marathons, the Boston Marathon boasts only 37 runners with streaks of completing 25 or more; Chicago can count nine runners who have run all 27 Chicago Marathons; and New York claims roughly a dozen have run between 15 and 20 New York Marathons in a row.

Some notable and extraordinary L.A. Marathon’s alumni include: 36-year-old Aimee Wyatt of Glendale, the Marathon’s youngest Legacy Runner, who lied about her age (with parental consent) to run her first L.A. Marathon at age 16, and 81-year-old Albert Pugliese of Arizona, the L.A. Marathon’s oldest Legacy Runner.