LA Marathon 2024: Route, Course Map, Times, Road Closures and Event Details
March 16, 2024
A notable annual event will be combined with a holiday on Sunday morning in Los Angeles.
This year, the running of the Los Angeles Marathon will coincide with St. Patrick's Day. So expect to see a lot of participants donning green as they trek through the streets of L.A. for the 2024 edition of the event on Sunday.
It will be the 39th running of the Los Angeles Marathon, which began in 1986, two years after the city hosted the Summer Olympics. Every year, thousands of people take part, getting an opportunity to take in the city's views while also competing at a high level.
Here's everything else you need to know about the 2024 Los Angeles Marathon.
2024 Los Angeles Marathon Information
When: Sunday, March 17
Start Time: 6:30 a.m. PT
Course Map: Available on LAMarathon.com
Road Closures: A list of road closures has been compiled on LAMarathon.com.
The 26.2-mile course for the 2024 L.A. Marathon is the same as in recent years. Runners will begin the morning at the starting line at Dodger Stadium, with the finish line placed at Santa Monica Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars in Carson City.
According to the Los Angeles Times, there will be "roughly 25,000" runners participating in this year's marathon.
Some of the top runners will be familiar to those who follow the sport from a competitive sense.
Among the participants in the women's race will be the defending champion, 31-year-old Stacy Ndiwa of Kenya. Last year, she finished the race in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 2 seconds. Now, she'll look to become the first repeat women's winner since Russia's Tatyana Petrova in 2008 and 2009.
Ndiwa told John Davis of the Los Angeles Daily News that her goal is to finish this year's race in a time of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
"I came here to defend my title so I'm happy because L.A. invited me again," Ndiwa said, per Davis. "I'll do my best to defend my title."
The 2023 men's champion was Ethiopia's Jemal Yimer, who finished in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 15 seconds.
It has been a while since a course record has been set at the Los Angeles Marathon. The men's record belongs to Ethiopia's Markos Geneti (2:06:35 in 2011) and the women's mark was set by Russia's Lidiya Grigoryeva (2:25:10 in 2006).
But there will be plenty of strong runners in the 2024 field, so perhaps there will be race history made on Sunday morning.
One runner to keep an eye on will be Makena Morley, a 27-year-old who should be a top American competitor in the women's field. She's a hopeful for the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Los Angeles.
"Just experiencing racing in the L.A. will give me a little upper hand maybe to some people when it comes to 2028 here," Morley recently told Davis.
So expect some impressive times to be recorded in the 2024 edition of the Los Angeles Marathon, and then perhaps some will be back in the city in four years.