Ryley Fick, Jason Yang win 39th Long Beach Marathon

Long Beach holds 39th annual marathon

Ryley Fick and Jason Yang are the winners of the 39th annual Long Beach Marathon.

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Thousands of runners hit the pavement in Long Beach Sunday for the city's 39th annual marathon.

Nearly 15,000 runners participated in the marathon and half-marathon, organizers said.

Ryley Fick, who graduated from Cal State Long Beach in May and was running her first marathon, won the women's race in 2:58:30.

"From start to finish, I'd say I enjoyed it," Fick said.

Jason Yang of Los Angeles won the men's race in a time of 2:27.04.

FILE: Half-marathon runners start their race along Shoreline Drive at the Long Beach Marathon in Long Beach, CA on Sunday, October 13, 2013. (Photo by Scott Varley/Digital First Media/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images)

"I think it's one of the best courses in Southern California," Yang said. "Everyone should do this marathon. Everyone is pushing each other to do better. Everyone's encouraging. I love the part where you're running on the beach. You don't get that in many races. The Queen Mary is nice and at the end, the downhill finish is amazing."

Yang, 32, also won Huntington Beach's Surf City Marathon in February, placed ninth at the Los Angeles Marathon in March and took third at the Orange County Marathon in May.

"I'm always trying to improve myself and my time," he said. "My goal is to set a personal best every race. I definitely put the time in and try to improve."

Each winner earned $1,000 for their victory. The races featured runners from 32 countries and 47 states. Nearly 18,000 runners participated in the weekend events, including nine Supreme Legacy Runners who completed all previous 38 editions of the race.

The winners of the half-marathon were Ayrton Fuentes with a time of 1:05.27, and Jennifer Sandoval with a time of 1:18.11.

The Long Beach course featured stretches by the Shoreline Marina, moved past the Queen Mary and later looped around the CSULB campus before returning to downtown Long Beach for a finish by the ocean.