With an expected 13,000 runners and close to 30,000 supporters, mostly in high-income brackets, the race promises to bring plenty of money to the local economy, organizers predict.
Peggy Fort, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Marathon, estimated the event would bring millions of dollars to Orange County, based on numbers reported by marathons of comparable size.
“We’re certainly all very excited about it. I think it’s just logistics now — getting the proper route into the city that fits with their policies and regulations,” said Jane Martin, the race’s executive director.
That course will likely start in Newport Beach and bypass the Orange County Performing Arts Center and some local communities, eventually ending at the Orange County Fair and Events Center, which will host an expo featuring businesses from the health and nutrition industry, Martin said.
One of the big advantages of having the race move through Costa Mesa is that the event organizers plan on hosting runners at Costa Mesa hotels, which will offer incentives to participants and their families.
There were two main forces that drove the run out of Irvine.
First, the coordinators wanted to hold it May 3, switching from its usual winter start, and Irvine was planning a Pediatric Cancer Center 5K for the same day. This would have made logistics really difficult for the organizers, Baugh said.
Also, many runners complained last time that the course was too hilly and secluded, Martin said. The Costa Mesa course, in contrast, is “flat and fast.”
“We really needed to work on the course, so we feel this will really be a top-notch course,” Martin said.
