LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The 38th Los Angeles Marathon is officially underway with the wheelchair racers making their way along the 26-mile, 385-yard course from Dodger Stadium to Century City.

They were followed by the elite women with the men set to hit the road at about 7 a.m. for a race that has drawn 22,000 runners from all 50 states and 67 nations. This is the marathon’s largest field since 2020 when it had a record 27,150 entrants, the 21st time in 22 years it topped 20,000 entrants.

When the marathon was next run in November 2021 — eight months later than usual because of restrictions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic — there were more than 13,000 entrants, organizers said. There were 14,300 entrants for the 2022 race.

Mayor Karen Bass is the honorary starter.

“As we emerge from the pandemic more and more people are comfortable in large gatherings and the increased field size aligns with year-over-year growth in race participation across the country,” Dan Cruz, the marathon’s head of communications told City News Service.

Ahead of Sunday race organizers advised runners to watch their step and look out for potholes caused by the recent rains and they also worked with the Bureau of Street Services to fill in as many as they could before race day, according to Dan Cruz, the marathon’s head of communications.

It will be 54 degrees, cloudy with light winds at Dodger Stadium for the start of the race, according to the National Weather Service.

From Dodger Stadium, runners are heading through downtown Los Angeles, Echo Park, Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood and Brentwood then back through Westwood to Century City, with the finish line for the “Stadium to the Stars” course on Santa Monica Boulevard between Avenue of the Stars and Century Park East.

When the first runner crosses the finish line around 9 a.m. it will be 57 degrees, with southerly winds about 5 mph, Lisa Phillips, a weather service meteorologist, told City News Service.

There is chance of light rain from the late morning through the rest of the day, Phillips said.

The elite women started 18 minutes, 19 seconds ahead of the elite men for the race’s Morgan & Morgan Marathon Chase, with the overall first finisher receiving a $10,000 bonus. The time difference is based on a calculation of the differences in lifetime finishes among the top seeded entrants.

The chase was part of the marathon from 2004 to 2014, with women winning seven times and men four. It was discontinued in 2015 when the race served as the USA Marathon Championships. It was revived last year with Delvine Meringor becoming the eighth female winner.

The men’s and women’s winners will each receive $6,000, the second-place finishers $2,500 and third-place finishers $1,500. The men’s and women’s wheelchair winners will each receive $2,500.

The men’s race has been won by a Kenyan every year since 1999, except for 2011, 2014 and 2020 when it was won by Ethiopians. A U.S. runner last won in 1994.

African women have won 10 of the last 13 races, including Meringor in 2022. Runners from the former Soviet Union won twice in the past 13 races. Natasha Cockram of Wales won in 2021. A U.S. runner last won the women’s race in 1994.

The field includes 107 legacy runners who have run all 37 previous editions of the race, including 81-year-old Sharon Kerson of Culver City, who will be running her 600th marathon. Her first was the inaugural 1986 Los Angeles Marathon.

Kerson will have to walk to finish the marathon. It is expected it will take her nearly 10 hours to complete the race.

There will be more than 3,100 runners from Students Run LA, an after-school mentoring and physical fitness program offered at more than 185 public schools in the Greater Los Angeles Area.

The race has 80 charity partners, with runners raising more than $2.5 million.

Its premier charities are:

— Angel City Pit Bulls, which is dedicated to creating a better future for pit bulls through education, public advocacy, adoptions and owner support;

— Students Run LA;

— Team TMF, the fundraising team for the McCourt Foundation, which describes its mission as striving to cure neurological diseases while empowering communities to build a healthier world. The foundation operates the race; and

— Team World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization conducting relief, development and advocacy activities seeking to tackle the causes of poverty and injustice in nearly 100 nations.

Among the runners running on behalf of a charity is Ryan Paddock, who will be running on behalf of the Asian American Drug Abuse Program which provides Asian Pacific Islanders and other under-served communities with substance abuse services throughout Los Angeles County, with programs and services provided to all individuals regardless of race or ethnicity.

Husband to honor wife who collapsed, died after LA Marathon by running in this year’s race

Paddock’s wife Trisha Paddock was running on behalf of the program last year in the 13.1-mile Charity Challenge where all participants fundraise for one of the race’s official charities. She collapsed at the finish line and died, the race’s first death since 2007.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell will be running with a group of runners from the Skid Row Running Club he founded in 2012 as a way to help its members get a second chance at life as they battle their addictions.

The roots of the club come from a man Mitchell had sentenced to prison, then contacted him through The Midnight Mission.

“For some reason he decided he liked the way I treated him, even though I sent him to prison,” Mitchell said. “He looked me up and introduced me to The Mission.”

Mitchell soon decided the best way to reach the people was through running.

“There are so many little things that emanate from this very basic idea of just running,” Mitchell said.

Since then, he has led three weekly training sessions around downtown Los Angeles — six-mile runs on Mondays and Thursdays and up to 18 miles on Saturdays.

“I’m not a great runner,” Mitchell said. “But the crucial thing is my willingness to devote time to this enterprise.”