It was established in 1998 and has been run every year since. It is the original race in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series of marathons and half-marathons organized by the IRONMAN Group, part of Wanda Sports Holdings. A half marathon race over was added to supplement the established full marathon race from the 2010 edition onwards. The 2006 marathon had 21,159 participants—17,339 of whom successfully finished the race. The half marathon course has a men's record of 58:41, set by Bernard Koech in 2013. This was the fourth-fastest time ever for the event, although the time did not meet official IAAF requirements as the course contained an excessive downhill. The 2020 edition of the race was postponed to the autumn due to the coronaviruspandemic.
Course
The marathon originally commenced at 6th Avenue at Palm and concluded on Broadway Avenue downtown San Diego. The following year, the finish moved to the Naval Training Center, and three years later moved to the Parade Deck in Marine Corps Recruit Depot. In 2010 a new course was defined which ended at SeaWorld San Diego. In 2013, the course was again rerouted with a new finish line at Petco Park. There is also a half-marathon over portions of the same course and a four-person relay option. Runners have seven hours in which to complete the marathon. The four-person relay option has a four-hour time limit.
Foundation controversy
Since its inception, the marathon claims to have raised in excess of $100 million for charities. In 2008 the Competitor Group took over Elite Racing, the company that had been organizing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. The following year, 2009, an internal audit revealed that the charity in whose name the race had been run, Elite Racing Foundation for Children, Education & Medical Research, had been improperly commingling funds with the for-profit Elite Racing. It further found that the foundation was being operated "in many instances for the benefit of the for-profit," and that the charity's role in hosting the races had been overstated. As a result, the race had benefited improperly from hundreds of thousands of dollars in public subsidies and grants. In announcing the results of the audit, Competitor said it would return $190,500 to San Diego County and $152,544 to the city of San Diego, spend the remaining foundation funds on health and wellness causes, file amended tax returns, and dissolve the foundation. Competitor Group made the final payments in October 2009. Altogether the company returned $344,176 to the city and county.
Winners
Marathon
Key: secured victory in 2010 – his first marathon win of Kenya was the 2006 women's race winner
In 2015, Harriette Thompson of Charlotte, North Carolina, completed the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon at the age of 92 years, 65 days, thus becoming the oldest woman to complete a marathon. In 2017, at the same event, she became the oldest woman to finish a half marathon, at age 94.
