H.B. woman, 71, wins L.A. marathon

Mary Dugan wasn’t a first-timer.

It wasn’t even the first time she’s won the darn thing.

But the Huntington Beach resident says that running in marathon events is, first and foremost, her “fun thing” to do.

Winning was just a bonus — but a proud accomplishment, just the same.

The 71-year-old won her age group division (70-74) title Sunday at the 23rd annual City of Los Angeles Marathon. It was a repeat performance for Dugan, who also won the 2006 age division title.

“I can’t believe that I’ve won two of these things in a row,” she said. “If you keep running and kept getting older, you’ll eventually win.”

Dugan won her division in 5:38.47, beating out 15 other competitors in her division.

Runner-up to Dugan was 72-year-old Virginia Lespron (6:03.38) of El Monte.

Patricia Devita, 74, of Granada Hills, was third at 6:21.54.

“I felt great, but it got a little hot out there Sunday,” Dugan said. “There was an 80-year-old who ran a 5:11 in her age group (80-99), and that’s really something. There are a lot of people out there running who are older than me, and that’s inspiring.”

Dugan said she began running marathons and half-marathons 23 years ago, at age 48.

“There was nothing special that hooked me, it was just something that I could accomplish and felt really good about afterward,” she explained. “I just enjoyed running, and you get to meet so many nice people along the way.”

During her 23-year running career, Dugan had made many race friends by competing in some big events. She’s run the Chicago Marathon three times, the Boston Marathon once, Kansas City Marathon twice and San Francisco Marathon a few times. She’s run both the half and full marathons in the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in Huntington Beach for each of its 16 years, making her one of the event’s Legacy Runners.

“I’ll keep running until I’m 80,” she said with a laugh. “The way my back was hurting me after Sunday’s race, though, I’m not sure how long I’ll keep going. But as long as I stay healthy, I’ll continue to run marathons. It’s just my fun thing to do.”

The 23rd annual City of Los Angeles Marathon was run for the second-straight year on a point-to-point course beginning in the valley at Universal Studios Hollywood and ending at Fifth and Flower streets, opposite the Richard J. Riordan Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. The course was designed along the Metro Red Line, which served as the start and finish line areas and three points in between.