Kick-off event tonight for Irvine Half Marathon celebrating Saturday’s 28th annual race in Woodbridge

Runners compete in one of the previous half marathons at Woodbridge.

About 1,500 runners are expected to participate in the Saturday, Jan. 12 Irvine Half Marathon in Woodbridge which also includes activities on Thursday and Friday to celebrate the 28th annual event.

Tim Cole, vice president of events for Mascot Sports, which is running the event, said that as of this week, about 1,000 runners had signed up for the half marathon and another 500 had signed up for the 5K event.

The event, a major fund-raiser for Woodbridge High athletics, starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 20 Lakeview Drive in Irvine and finishes at the Mike Ward Community Park in Irvine (20 Lake Road, Irvine 92604).

The half marathon begins at 8 a.m. and the 5K race at 8:15 a.m. The Finish Line Festival begins at 9:30 a.m. and lasts until 1 p.m.

The event is important to Woodbridge athletics, said Athletic Director Rick Gibson.

“Over the years, it’s meant a great deal,” Gibson said. “It’s been our major money maker for 25 plus years.”

Gibson said that school and booster officials reached an agreement recently with Mascot Sports from Northern California to take over many of the administrative duties.

“We had worn quite a few parents out trying to do this extravaganza every year,” Gibson said. “It became hard for the same group of parents to continue and then to train a new group. And George Varvas (the track and cross country coach who retired as a teacher) was a huge asset to running the half marathon. We’re hoping that this relationship with Mascot Sports will boost it back to where it was a couple years back.”

Funds raised goes toward all athletic teams, Gibson said.

“Money is collected and given to the athletic booster club and the athletic booster club in turn donates it to athletics,” Gibson said.

Teams can use the funds for the equipment they need. The half marathon is one of four fund-raisers held during the year by the Woodbridge Athletic Booster Club.

“The idea is to get this fund-raising to the $250,000 mark (for the year) which we’re not at at this juncture, but that’s what our booster club is working toward,” Gibson said.

Gibson said that there are also a number of other half marathons which runners can go to.

“When George started this it was one of the few fund-raisers like it,” Gibson said. “Now, there are half marathons and 5K runs every week, so it’s a saturated market so having Mascot Sports, which is in the business of running events like this and trying to make them big, help us out (should benefit the program).”

Many of the Woodbridge athletes will also be competing, Gibson said.

“What’s nice about it is all athletes participate,” Gibson said. “We ask the parents to be part of it. Most sports will help on the day of the event but there are other sports who do other things prior to the day.”

Woodbridge Booster Club President Jay Lyon believes that Mascot Sports will “help take us to the next level.”

“The success of the race and the size of the race and the growth of the race means everything to us and our student athletes; that’s our focus,” Lyon said.

Lyon said he hopes this year’s event generates future interest.

“Our numbers have dropped off over the past couple of years so we’re hoping with the partnership with Mascot Sports that we’re able to infuse some excitement into the race,” Lyon said. “They’ve done a really good job in picking up where we left off last year and re-branding the product and continuing to build on it and making it an exciting event.

“We’re excited for our partnership with them over the next three to five years and looking forward to it.”

The event is open to runners from all over the nation, Lyon said.

“There will be people from various running clubs from all over the state,” Lyon said.

There are two other events, a kick-off event with live music Thursday evening, Jan. 10 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Woodbridge Village Plaza and another event Friday, Friday Jan. 11 at the Mike Ward Community Center from 5 to 8 p.m.

“Friday night will be the initial night for check-in and we will be having music, Kona Brewery is sponsoring a beer garden and we will have sporting events on television, a beer garden set up festival style with music just to kick off the excitement generated for all of our runners who will be participating on Saturday,” Lyon said.

The public is welcome for both events, Lyon said.

Also participating in the planning and running of the event are Ernie Kwan, the Woodbridge Athletic Booster Club vice president who is in charge of fund-raising and Steve Averill, vice president of the executive committee.

Organizers of the event are hoping the weather holds up on Saturday, although there is a chance of morning showers.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it (the rain) holds off, but the event will go rain or shine,” Lyon said. “We will make the best of it, whatever happens.”

(OC Sports Zone will be covering Saturday’s event and taking pictures of many of the runners to publish on our website, so please check back for more coverage).

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com