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Al Boka has been on a
long-running quest to help turn the Las Vegas Marathon into a
world-class event.
It appears he has finally crossed the finish line.
Boka, director of the race the past 23 years, will finally see it
contested along the Strip, as well as through downtown. The Las Vegas
City Council and the Clark County Commission approved a new course,
which began with this year's 40th running on Dec. 4.
"I'm very excited," Boka said. "The most fulfilling and surprising thing
is that Las Vegas is going to take its position alongside the great
marathons in the United States and in the world."
Chicago-based Devine Racing, which bought the event from Boka and has
retained Boka on its staff, successfully lobbied local and state
authorities to bring the race into the city and onto the Strip.
Bill Burke, president of the Los Angeles Marathon and now president of
the renamed New Las Vegas Marathon, said the move has been a long work
in progress.
"We had been eyeing that territory, believe it or not, for 12 years,"
Burke said. "We knew from our experiences in other locations that the
potential was enormous. We think it can not only become the largest
marathon in the world, but become one of the great ones."
Immediately, it will take place while another big event is in town: The
National Finals Rodeo begins its 10-day run Dec. 2.
The race will begin at Mandalay Bay, go up Las Vegas Boulevard, wind
through the downtown casino area, then head west on Alta. The course
then goes south on Torrey Pines before heading back toward the Strip on
Desert Inn. Runners will then go south on Industrial Road and Frank
Sinatra Drive before finishing at Mandalay Bay.
The race starts at 6 a.m., well ahead of sunrise, putting runners
under the Strip lights for the first few miles.
For the past two decades, the race started in Jean and went up the old
Los Angeles Highway, ending well south of the Strip. The race has ended
at Sunset Park for several years.
Devine Racing finished a battle that Boka has fought since taking over
the event in 1982. Boka's resources weren't enough to convince the city
or the county to push the race onto the Strip.
"To do that, it takes what we haven't had all along, and I'm the first
guy to acknowledge that," Boka said. "I've never been able to connect
with the real powers that can make this happen. It takes a lot of money
and political power."
Burke and Devine Racing co-managing partners Chris Devine and Bruce
Buzil were able to make that extra push.
"Al never got the spirit of the city behind him," Burke said. "He had
all the spark, but it just didn't light. We're going to try to light the
fire."
Devine Racing oversaw the Chicago Marathon for three years in the 1990s
and now runs the Salt Lake City and Los Angeles marathons.
Burke, Devine and Buzil all agreed that Boka keeping the event alive the
past two decades, even holding it with no prize money offered at times,
was key to putting together a revamped Las Vegas Marathon.
"This is an annual event that has a long history, and it did itself
proud," Burke said. "But what we're trying to do is move this event to a
world-class stature."
Said Devine: "Al has done a phenomenal job. He's a partner now, and
we're really grateful to have him. Bruce and Bill can take this race to
the next level, and Al knows the running community here, and that's very
important."
Burke said experts in marathon planning were brought in during the past
year to help sway the Commission and City Council.
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"There were enormous questions that had to be answered," Burke said.
"That's why we brought in all these experts. We had to show the mayor
and the commission that we could do this. And that took six or seven
months." Clark County manager Thom Reilly said Devine Racing capably demonstrated
ways to get around all the hurdles.
"The challenges they faced were getting the casinos on board, developing
a route down the strip and showing that there is still access to the
strip," Reilly said. "But the larger issue was working with the Nevada
Department of Transportation and the concerns they had about the access
to I-15.
"But when they came to meet with me nine, 10 months ago, they created an
exciting vision of how this could be done on the Strip. They made a
compelling argument: that every other major city is able to do this."
The group's experience in Chicago from 1994-96 and now in Los Angeles
and Salt Lake City proved key.
"All our folks are on board with this," Reilly said. "We were impressed
with them. They did their homework."
And a financial commitment has already been made, as well.
"We'll probably have $3 (million) to $4 million invested by the time the
gun goes off Dec. 4," Burke said. "We're bringing in world-class experts
in various areas of marathoning to help."
The last race, run in February, finally saw the event offer a
substantial purse, at $110,000, after three years of offering no prize
money. But Burke said prize money for the Dec. 4 race will be
"significantly above" $110,000.
The Los Angeles Marathon, run last month, had a purse of $300,000, and
the Salt Lake Marathon, to be run Saturday, has a $125,000 purse.
Devine and Buzil, both primarily involved in running radio stations,
including two in Las Vegas, formed Devine Racing two years ago. The two
then began working with Burke on the Las Vegas Marathon, featuring the
Strip as part of the course.
They bought the race from Boka for undisclosed terms, keeping Boka as an
international ambassador for Devine Racing, recruiting runners for all
of Devine's events.
The race will be capped at 15,000 runners this year, a number the old
race never approached, and only the marathon will be held. Previously, a
half-marathon and 10-kilometer run were held on the weekend of the
marathon.
Devine and Buzil said they expect to reach the cap quickly, particularly
after a formal announcement of the new course in the next couple weeks.
The goal from there is to turn the marathon into more than just a
26.2-mile race, with supplemental events going on before, during and
after the race.
"The chance to have the experience of participating in this event will
be very rewarding for the runners," Devine said. "This is going to be
the experience of a lifetime. That's the template we're trying to create
in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and now here."
Boka said he's looking forward to that, although he admitted it's hard
to take a lesser role with the event.
"It's a little bit of a setback to give up absolute, maniacal control of
something, but on the other hand, this is where it has been destined to
go for all these years," he said.
By PATRICK EVERSON
REVIEW-JOURNAL
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