BEVERLY HILLS—The 2010 Honda Los Angeles Marathon celebrated its 25th year of existence on Sunday, March 21. This year, the LA Marathon drew notable crowds, topping at around 25,000.
The race was kicked off at fabled Dodger Stadium. This year’s marathon was presented by K-Swiss.
Runners participating in the LA Marathon followed a route which meandered through various sections of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hills Police Department estimated that around 25,000 individuals ran in this year’s marathon.
Both the BHPD and the Beverly Hills Fire Department were involved on marathon day, making sure all runners were healthy and safe. As part of their commitment to the safety and well being of the runners, the City of Beverly Hills adopted a particularly cutting edge technology, the Interagency Communications Interoperability Communications system. In a statement, the BHPD noted that “Due to the large geographic area covered by the Marathon route and involvement of several municipal agencies and jurisdictions a multi-agency approach to radio communication was critical,” and ultimately “proved invaluable in providing public safety and response personnel a useful and functional radio communication tool with which to coordinate response efforts over the 26-mile route.”
The communication system was credited with helping to quickly organize and alert appropriate agencies and officials during the marathon.
Officials were quite happy with the success of the communication program. The BHPD noted that “the overall benefit of the communications capabilities to cover this type of public event cannot be understated, particularly when it contributes to the successful outcome of an event of this scope.”
The LA Marathon and its runners are known for supporting charitable causes. Some of the affiliated charities this year included the American Cancer Society, Noah’s Wish, Team Parkinson, Lupus LA, A Better LA, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Beit T’Shuvah, the Harmony Project, the Wildwoods Foundations, the YWCA and the AIDS Marathon Training Program.
