San Diego will host the World Athletics Road Running Championships Sept. 26-28, 2025 — a footrace extravaganza patterned after the Carlsbad 5000 and Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon.
And possibly a major windfall for the local economy — rivaling the $165 million brought in by Comic-Con.
A mile race, 5K road race and half-marathon will be contested in and around Balboa Park, with “peoples” races for all age groups and abilities, say local organizers.
“We are anticipating about 50,000 entrants over the three events, expecting 67% of the participants to be from outside San Diego,” says a 1,700-word draft overview obtained by Times of San Diego.
The World Athletics Council — the global governing body of track and field and other racing events — approved the dates Friday.
It was exactly four months ago that San Diego was chosen for what will become an annual event, first held Oct. 1 in Riga, Latvia, in this format. (American Hobbs Kessler won the mile in 3:56.13 and Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji clocked 4:20.98 — both credited with world records.)
The direct economic impact to the city and the county should be a record for a running event in California, says the draft, written by Tracy Sundlun of Santee, a co-founder of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series and leader of the local organizing committee.
“Based upon the Economic Impact Report of the 2019 Rock ‘n Roll San Diego Marathon & Half-Marathon with a total of 23,567 registrants, 22,109 room nights, $25,716,897 of direct spending, and $48,784,954 of total economic impact, it would be surprising if the numbers weren’t at least double that,” the draft says.
Organizers are also working with World Masters Athletics* to have that body designate the 35 and older masters divisions in all three races as their age-group world championships. Races for high-schoolers are planned for kids 13 and under in the mile and 5K. Race walk, military, wheelchair and paralympic divisions are planned for all races.
For the championship 5K (3.1 miles), a three-loop course is expected to be on the west side of Balboa Park, starting at Sixth Avenue and Redwood Street, finishing at Balboa Drive and El Prado, “encircling all the 10,000+ citizen runners enjoying their post-event party,” says the draft.
Final course routes haven’t been set, but the mile might start at Sixth and Nutmeg, turn into Balboa Park at Upas and Balboa Drive and finish on Balboa Drive across the park from Nutmeg.
Besides the elite races, which can be viewed for free, a big draw may be a “Champions Mile” – a “non-competitive celebratory run for past Olympians and Paralympians from all sports.”
Organizers have recruited “event ambassadors” with local ties to help promote the championships, including Chula Vista native Des Linden and San Diego High School alumnus Meb Keflezighi, both Olympians and Boston Marathon winners.
Longtime resident Steve Scott, former American mile record-holder who co-founded the Carlsbad 5,000, and two-time Olympic marathon gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge, the former world record holder, is also on board.
The Friday-Saturday-Sunday run fest will be a 501(c)3 nonprofit organized by Sundlun in cooperation with Sports San Diego, and other San Diego road running experts.
John Palmer, an Australian native once involved with the LA Marathon and major Australian international events, also is involved.
Net proceeds, if any, will go to support track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking in the San Diego area, says the draft.
“All the races will be staged as the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series was designed, with live bands at every mile, cheerleaders at every mile, themed water stations, and a different Headliner Concert at the post-race party every day,” the draft says.
Prize money — at least $321,000 — will go to top finishers of the world championships races, says the draft. And $133,500 will be “evenly spread” over open and masters age-group races, with top men’s and women’s prizes of $1,000 for the best age-graded marks.
The race walk and wheelchair divisions also will be supported by prize money and travel assistance.
“This will allow all three of the races to become World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold Label events making the World Championship weekend very desirable to the world’s best walkers,” says the draft.
At the request of the world’s best milers and 5K runners and their managers and coaches, the San Diego event will come on the heels, literally, of the world track and field championships — set for Sept. 13-21, 2025, in Tokyo. The Diamond League circuit of professional track meets will be over, and New York’s Fifth Avenue Mile is expected to be Sept. 7, Sundlun says.
But road-running expert and Race Results Weekly publisher David Monti says athletes running in the world track and field championships won’t be able to take part in the Fifth Avenue Mile, which he says is expected to be Sept. 14.
“However, athletes not running in Tokyo but who plan to run in San Diego can easily do both,” he told Times of San Diego. “One event does not cannibalize the other, at least for the milers.”
But marathoners and half-marathoners use a “completely different” calculus, Monti says.
“Most coaches do not feel that peaking for a half-marathon during marathon training makes any sense, so athletes running, say, the Chicago Marathon (October) would likely stay away from San Diego (for Berlin it’s a direct conflict),” he said.
“For athletes running New York, it’s a ‘maybe,’ and for athletes running Valencia or Fukuoka it should be fine.”
A live international broadcast feed is planned, making the championships “a national and international infomercial for San Diego,” says the draft.
Updated at 11:07 a.m. Dec. 15, 2023
*An earlier version of this story said World Masters Athletics and USATF would stage championship events. Those events have yet to be assured.
