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Carlsbad 5000 Running Race Marks 30th Anniversary Sunday

Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel crosses the finish line at the Carlsbad 5000 race on March 26, 2014.
Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel crosses the finish line at the Carlsbad 5000 race on March 26, 2014.

The 3.1-mile race is called 'World's Fastest 5K'

Carlsbad 5000 Running Race Marks 30th Anniversary Sunday
For 30 years, the Carlsbad 5000 has attracted elite international runners who've smashed world records while racing the streets of this North County city.

Every year the Carlsbad 5000 race attracts elite international runners aiming to smash world records while racing the streets of this North County city. On Sunday, the 5-kilometer, or 3.1-mile, race celebrates its 30th anniversary.

The race is called "the world's fastest 5K" because 16 world records and eight U.S. records have been set there. The current men's and women's world records for 5K road races were run on the course. In 2000, Sammy Kipketer of Kenya set the world record by running the course in 13 minutes, and in 2006 Meseret Defar of Ethiopia set the women's world record with a time of 14 minutes and 46 seconds.

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Race Schedule

The races are staggered by age group, starting at 7 a.m. Sunday.

The women's elite race will begin at 11:56 a.m.

The men's elite race will begin at 12:24 p.m.

Full schedule here.

Road Closures

Some roads in Carlsbad will be closed Sunday beginning at 4:30 a.m. The list of closures can be found here.

Last year, American runner Bernard Lagat ran the course in 13:21 and thought he had broke the American record. It had been 13:24, set by Mark Davis in 1996. But when the course was measured again, it turned out to be 13.5 feet short, so the record was thrown out.

The coordinator for the event, Matt Turnbull, took responsibility for the mistake. Lagat will try again this year.

"I guarantee we'll be making sure the course is measured properly this year,” Turnbull said in a statement.

Last year, Lagat finished second to Ethiopian Dejen Gebremeskel, who has won the race four years in a row. Gebremeskel will also be racing this year.

American women's world record holder Deena Kastor will also run on Sunday. She set the U.S. 5K road race record at Carlsbad in 2002 with a time of 14:54.

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While Carlsbad resident Mark Gleason doesn't plan on setting any world records, he will set a different sort of record during this year's event. He's run all 29 of the Carlsbad races and plans to run in the 30th.

"I started running a few years before the first race," he said. He raced the first Carlsbad 5000 in 1985 because he had family and friends who were running, and has kept returning each year to run with the same group.

"Then after about six or seven years, I thought, well, why stop now?" he said.

Gleason said twice he ran the race a day after completing the Oceanside Half Ironman, which involves a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run.

"I was kind of struggling," Gleason said. This year, he's focusing on only running the 5K race but doesn't hope to break his own personal course record of just above 19 minutes.

"Early on, I was a few years younger," he said.

The Carlsbad 5000 is put on by San Diego-based Competitor Group, which also hosts the Rock 'n' Roll marathon series. Competitor spokesman Dan Cruz said 8,500 people are expected to turn out for the Carlsbad 5000.