California International Marathon

Running venues in the Sacramento area cannot be discussed without mentioning the American River Parkway, the incredibly spectacular fitness venue for our community. The casual observer would think, “It’s there, ready and waiting, relatively safe, beautiful, convenient – so what’s to improve?”

Those of us who have been to American River Parkway Foundation meetings in recent years, who receive updates from these meetings, and who follow Parkway issues, know all too well there is a lot to be done to protect and improve this precious resource. Funding is a huge part of this, as are the conflicts that occur between cyclists, mountain bikers, in-line skaters, equestrians, runners, and walkers.

The CIM has unanimously voted to donate a portion of its proceeds to the Parkway. In 2008, after the entry cap of 6,000 had been achieved, the CIM continued to receive requests for more entries. The CIM used this situation as an opportunity to raise funds for the Parkway by releasing 200 special entries for $200 each. They sold out and the entire amount from these entries was presented to the Parkway.

Rather than simply writing a check for $40,000 to the Parkway’s general fund not knowing whether or not these funds will be used to improve the Parkway for runners, the Board met  with The American River Parkway Foundation, the Sacramento County Department of Parks & Recreation, and the Sacramento County Supervisors to determine exactly how CIM funds can target American River Parkway running-related improvements.

One option was to widen the decomposed granite sides of the trail where these were quite narrow. This was deemed next to impossible due to the environmental impact study that would be required. SRA members then explored areas of the dirt running paths that parallel the bike trail.

They found that between Howe Avenue up to William Pond Park the trail was severely eroded and overgrown with brush. Improving the trail would not require an environmental impact study, trail running popularity is increasing as more runners discover that running on dirt is healthier, and having better trails will help to relieve the congestion on the paved bike trail. Solution settled!

In early November 2009, an agreement between the groups was made to dedicate the funds to improvements of the dirt running path that parallels the multi-use paved trail between Howe and Watt Avenue. On November 18, 2009, the check for $40,000 was awarded to the American River Parkway Foundation.

A similar CIM entry "sell out" occurred in 2009, following which an additional 250 CIM entries were sold, again for $200 each. Work has been progressing on the dirt trail portion described above, and a portion of the 2009 funds will help this work to continue.

In 2010 and 2011, once again charity entries were offered following a sell out of the 7,500 entries made available. This time 300 entries were offered at $250 each. As soon as the SRA Board determines how these funds will be used, the information will be posted here.