Danielle Domenichelli

The recently completed California International Marathon continues to be America’s ffastest-growingmajor marathon, with an event-record 7,831 marathon runners crossing the finish line on December 2. To verify results and provide accurate data, the CIM partnered with Marathon Investigation to thoroughly investigate final results before marking official. After completing the process, official CIM results show the the near-perfect weather year led to a number of record-breaking stats.

The 2018 CIM had an event-record number of runners hit their Boston Marathon qualifying time, with 2,501 runners running under the age-group qualifying standards for the prestigious Boston Marathon. End-of-the-year statistics show the CIM as having the highest percentage of Boston Qualifiers from a major open marathon in 2018, with 31.9% of runners at the 2018 CIM running under the 2019 Boston Marathon qualifying times.

At the front of the race, the 2018 CIM had a record number of U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifiers from a single marathon, with 152 participants running under the 2020 Olympic Trials time standards. Ninety-nine American women ran a 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:45:00 or faster, with 53 American men running a 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:19:00 or faster. Qualifiers will compete for a spot on the 2020 USA Olympic Marathon team on February 29, 2020.

The women at CIM ran the “fastest time for place” at any marathon ever for places 92 to 120. Additionally, an event-record 929 runners broke the coveted three-hour marathon mark at the 2018 CIM.

These times solidify the 2018 CIM as the deepest American marathon ever.

“Performance running is central to the history and purpose of CIM, and we are proud to continually facilitate high levels of achievement at our event every year from the front to the back of our race,” said Sacramento Running Association Executive Director Scott Abbott.

“So much of the running industry is leaning toward profit-focused decisions that often come in direct conflict with decisions about cultivating and supporting the sport of running and facilitating performance running.

“Because of this, the Sacramento Running Association feels responsible and empowered more than ever to lean as hard as we can in the other direction to provide a space for the sport to thrive, an environment for the racer to race, and a platform for people to achieve great results that match the effort and the passion that they put into their preparation,” added Abbott.

In addition to the records set, the CIM was selected to be one of only 50 marathons worldwide that qualify for the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championships. Race times from the 2018 CIM have been added to the worldwide standings that are used to determine who is invited to the first ever age-group world championships, set for the spring of 2020.

“The guiding light for our team, when making decisions about CIM, is ‘Will this help runners achieve their goals on race day?’” said CIM Race Director Eli Asch.

“Seeing so many runners earn PRs, BQs, and OTQs at this year’s CIM really validates many of those decisions.

“We can’t wait to see even more runners achieve with us in 2019.”

The Sacramento Running Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding ways to encourage people of all ages and abilities to run. The SRA is committed to developing new, quality running events that appeal to a broad variety of runners.

Other SRA events include the the Super Sunday Run on Feb. 3, 2019, the Credit Union SACTOWN Run on April 7, 2019, the Gold Country Half on May 19, 2019, the Capital Cross Challenge on September 29, 2019, the Youth XC Series in October and Run the Parkway in November.

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