Boxer & Gerson has signed on as a sponsor for the landmark 10th Anniversary of the Oakland Marathon and Running Festival for 2019. The event will help kick off spring in the Bay Area once again with a weekend of festivities that culminate in race day on Sunday morning, March 24.
Some 10,000 runners will toe three different starting lines at Eastshore Park near Lake Merritt on race morning, after Saturday’s daytime Running Expo and a kick-off Happy Hour on Friday night at Oakland Marriott City Center.
About 1,200 of those runners will be lining up for the full 26.2-mile marathon distance that for the first time this year will feature a traverse of the Bay Bridge. Runners, which will include 225 team relay entries, will enjoy the bridge’s sweeping views from the East Span on the way out to the turnaround point at Yerba Buena Island, from where they will head back to Oakland on the pedestrian path.
The other 8,800 runners will be enjoying an also challenging half-marathon distance or a 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) race, both of them starting and finishing at the same location as the marathon. An additional feature for those who would like to creep up on the marathon distance is a 16.3-mile “Run the Town” option, which combines the half-marathon and the 5K.
Adding to the allure for Boxer & Gerson of the event’s citywide celebration is that all three race courses will pass by the firm’s Oakland headquarters in the Rotunda Building at Frank H Ogawa Plaza.
“We were founded and have been in Oakland since 1977,” said Boxer & Gerson Managing Partner Justin Litvack, “and have always taken a great deal of pride in the city. We’re very pleased to help sponsor an event that showcases the town, promotes healthy activity and attracts runners from across the country. We’re even hopeful that some of our own attorneys and staff can push themselves away from their work desks long enough to train for one of the races. If not this year, then there should be plenty of time to get in shape for 2020.”
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