Outdoor Sports

More than 27,000 people will run through the streets of San Francisco on Sunday morning in the 42nd San Francisco Marathon.

The race, which is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon and Olympic Time Trials, has been won by the same person each of the last two years.

Jorge Maravilla finished first in 2017 and 2018, posting a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes and 56 seconds last year. Bonnie Tran won on the women's side in 2018 with a time of 2:54.09.

The course record on both the men's and women's sides were set in 2013 by Francois Lhuissier (2:25.15) and Anna Bretan (2:42.26), respectively, and the latter won three straight years from 2013-15.

Heading into this year's race, here's a look at the map, road-closure information and the different events set for Sunday.

      

2019 San Francisco Marathon Information

When: Sunday, July 28

Start time: 5:30 a.m. PT/8:30 a.m. ET

Starting location: The waterfront at Mission Street and The Embarcadero

Course maps: Available on TheSFMarathon.com

     

While Sunday's marathon is the premier event, there are several other races that will take place later in the morning. There will be two half marathons, which start at 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. PT, and a 5K race, which begins at 7:45 a.m. PT.

In addition to those races, there is an ultramarathon, which sees participants running the marathon course two straight times, either solo or as a member of a two- or four-person team. The runners will start at 11 p.m. PT on Saturday night, then join the other runners for the start of the marathon at 5:30 a.m. PT.

For the runners in the marathon, there will be many iconic landmarks along the course, most notably the Golden Gate Bridge, which the runners will go across during the race.

All participants in the marathon receive a long-sleeved shirt, while finishers will receive a medal and certificate.

The awards ceremony will take place at 9:30 a.m. PT at Embarcadero Plaza.

       

Street Closures

Due to the race, there will be numerous streets that will be closed throughout the event. Here's a full map of the road closures.

Several road-closure notices have been posted around the city this week in the leadup to the marathon, and more will be posted on Sunday. It will be important for people driving around the city to map their routes to avoid encountering a closed street.

        

Muni Reroutes and Directions

There will also be some alterations to the Muni schedule due to the marathon this weekend.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency released a notice earlier this week detailing the transit impacts for Saturday and Sunday. The full list of those affected lines can be found here.   

A selection of the strongest men on the planet will be at Verulamium Park in St. Albans, England, on Friday as the 2019 UK's Strongest Man finals get under way.

The quarter-finals open the tournament as the participants seek to book their place in Sunday's final, where Pa O'Dwyer will attempt to successfully defend his title.

O'Dwyer became the first Irishman to win the competition last year.

      

Start Date: Friday, July 26

End Date: Sunday, July 28

Venue: Verulamium Park, St. Albans, England

Live Stream: Ultimate Strongman website

     

Pa O'Dwyer

The battle lines have been drawn between O'Dwyer and a competition field looking to take back the crown from the champion.

O'Dwyer showed RTE Sport last year the kind of breakfast that is required to build championship muscle:

🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥩🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚🥚 Six steak dinners a day. Seven eggs for breakfast. That's what fuels Pa O'Dwyer, Ireland's strongest man. pic.twitter.com/6STg7eGMzY

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 30, 2018

The Irishman turned 34 on Thursday and will hope for a further celebration with a successful title defence this weekend.

       

Graham Hicks

Britain's Strongest Man titleholder Graham Hicks is viewed as the man most likely to challenge O'Dwyer for the winner's medal in St. Albans, which would also be his first UK's Strongest Man victory.

In his day job, the 34-year-old helps design and build fighter jets, via World's Strongest:

Graham Hicks, Great Britain, made his 5th appearance at the 2018 @TachiPalace World’s Strongest Man. 🇬🇧 When he isn’t training, Graham works as a design support engineer for BAE systems – working on fighter jets. pic.twitter.com/s1oHL1rRM3

— SBD World's Strongest Man (@WorldsStrongest) November 20, 2018

Hicks won Britain's Strongest Man for the first time this year following back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018. The pressing events are where he is at his best, such as the axle, dumbbell and log clean and press.

             

Tom and Luke Stoltman

It's not often two siblings make it to the pinnacle of professional sport together, but Luke and Tom Stoltman are frequent fixtures in the latter stages of Strongman competitions.

Tom, 25, impressed with a run to second place at the 2017 UK's Strongest Man, while 34-year-old Luke dazzled more recently with a fourth-placed finish at 2019 Giants Live:

The brothers boast six Scotland's Strongest Man medals between them.

Frank Meza, a long-distance runner who recently had his result in the 2019 Los Angeles Marathon vacated, has died at the age of 70.

Per David Wharton and Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County coroner said Meza's body was discovered "on the bed of the Los Angeles River near the Riverside-Figueroa Street bridge." 

Wharton and Fenno noted authorities responded to a call for a possible jumper on the bridge early Thursday morning and results of an autopsy are pending. 

Meza participated in the L.A. Marathon in March, setting a record for his age by finishing in 2:53:10. 

Amid allegations of cheating, Meza told Wharton last month he found the things being said about him in online message boards "pretty traumatic."

Race officials announced on July 1 that Meza was disqualified after video cameras showed he left the course for a brief period and his time during one stretch would be "impossible."

Meza had been participating in marathons regularly dating back to 2009. 

Martins Licis was crowned World's Strongest Man for 2019 on Sunday after powering to a grandstand finish in the final five events at Manatee Beach in Bradenton, Florida.

Licis, 28, became the third successive, inaugural WSM champion to be crowned after Eddie Hall and Hafthor Bjornsson won their maiden titles in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Bjornsson was injured early in Thursday's opening round and later confirmed on Instagramhe had torn the plantar fascia in his foot. The Icelandic strongman qualified for Sunday's final in good time but was clearly feeling pain in certain events and failed to retain his crown.

Poland's Mateusz Kieliszkowski and Brian Shaw of the United States were also among the main contenders on Sunday as new names and old shone on the biggest stage in a memorable finals climax.

              

Podium Finishers

Event 1: Loading Race

1. Tom Stoltman (39.66 seconds)

2. Mateusz Kieliszkowski (40.52 seconds)

3. Martins Licis (43.87 seconds)

       

Event 2: Overhead Press—Medley

1. Mateusz Kieliszkowski (23.86 seconds)

2. Martins Licis (27.54 seconds)

3. Brian Shaw (31.8 seconds)

      

Event 3: Squat Lift—Reps

1. Martins Licis (9 reps)

2. Brian Shaw (8 reps)

3= Mateusz Kieliszkowski (7 reps)

3= Hafthor Bjornsson (7 reps)

        

Event 4: Deadlift—Hold

1. Hafthor Bjornsson (45.29 seconds)

2. Martins Licis (41.20 seconds)

3. Jean-Francois Caron (38.57 seconds)

       

Event 5: Atlas Stones

1. Tom Stoltman (10 pts)

2. Martins Licis (9 pts)

3. Jean-Francois Caron (8 pts)

       

Recap

Scottish brothers Tom and Luke Stoltman became the first siblings to qualify for the World's Strongest Man finals, and the former got off to a fine start by winning the Loading Race first up on Sunday. He was the only athlete to beat the 40-second mark with a time of 39.66 seconds.

Brother Luke didn't fare as well and finished seventh in the opening event, while Kieliszkowski took second and American Licis followed closely behind in third.

Kieliszkowski and Licis made it back onto the podium in the overhead press medley, except the former came out on top after rounding the circuit in 23.86 seconds, almost four seconds faster than any other lifter.

Shaw finished in a time of 31.8 seconds to take third and followed up with eight repetitions in the third event, the barbell squat. That was sufficient to take second and net another nine points, with only Licis (nine reps) performing better.

Bjornsson clinched a second straight fourth-place finish and powered through an early reset following his second rep to complete seven in total, level with Kieliszkowski and enough to add another seven points.

The static aspect of the car hold played into Bjornsson's hands considering his foot injury, producing his first win of the finals. He held on for 45.29 seconds, an emphatic 4.09 seconds longer than runner-up Licis to rejuvenate even the slightest hope of defending his crown before the final event.

The Mountain had to finish second or higher to keep his title vision alive, but Licis held a five-point advantage over anyone else in the field and held on past the Atlas Stones to maintain top spot.

The American's first podium finish in World's Strongest Man has also produced his maiden overall championship and a deserved result after showing remarkable consistency on Sunday.

The last day of qualifying for the 2019 World's Strongest Man final took place on Saturday, as a Last Man Standing competition entertained fans.

Great Britain's Tom Stoltman succeeded in joining brother Luke Stoltman in Sunday's final after both excelled with the Atlas Stones.

It was a great event for the British, with former rugby professional Adam Bishop earning a win to qualify alongside his countrymen.

Here are Saturday's results, courtesy of Nick English of Barbend.com:

                                

Last Man Standing

Group 1: Luke Stoltman bt. Rob Kearney

Group 2: Adam Bishop bt. Robert Oberst

Group 3: Tom Stoltman bt. Aivars Smaukstelis

Group 4: JF Caron bt. Ole Martin Kristiansen

Group 5: Trey Mitchell bt. Oleksii Novikov

                            

2019 World Strongest Man Finalists

Hafthor Bjornsson, Iceland (current champion)

Martins Licis, United States

Trey Mitchell, United States

Brian Shaw, United States

Tom Stoltman, Great Britain

Luke Stoltman, Great Britain

Adam Bishop, Great Britain

JF Caron, Canada

Konstantine Janashia, Georgia

Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Poland

                    

Saturday Recap

Day 3 witnessed a true test of strength, with the hopeful qualifiers battling back and forth with a 200-kilogram Atlas Stone.

Five contests saw the runners-up and third-placed athletes from each group undertake a play-off to stay in the reckoning for the title.

The Stoltman brothers were in top form as they prevailed in the event where each participant must pass the stone back and forth until one man can no longer physically continue.

Luke Stoltman eliminated American strongman Rob Kearney, and Tom defeated Latvian Aivars Smaukstelis.

There was a twist of events as Kevin Faires was unable to take his opening lift in Group 4. That meant the American was obliged to step aside, according to competition rules, allowing Ole Martin Kristiansen to take his spot to face JF Caron.

However, the Canadian was too good, as Kristiansen failed with his fifth lift to crash out of the event.

Trey Mitchell and Oleksii Novikov were involved in an incredible encounter, and Mitchell displayed formidable endurance with 14 repetitions.

Hafthor Bjornsson is the current champion, but the Game of Thrones star, who plays the Mountain in the TV series, will compete in the final with a torn plantar fascia—per English—damaging his chances of retaining his crown.

Hafthor Bjornsson was not involved in Saturday's action at the 2019 World's Strongest Man, with the Icelandic powerlifter having confirmed his spot in the final of the event.

Bjornsson, who played "The Mountain" on television series Game Of Thrones, is seeking to defend the title he won a year ago. 

In addition to Bjornsson, Brian Shaw, Mateusz Kieliszkowski, Martins Licis and Konstantine Janashia all sat out Saturday's action as they've all already made it to Sunday's final at Manatee Beach, Florida, per Nick English of Barbend.

Bjornsson has advanced in spite of an injury he has been carrying at the competition. On Thursday, he stopped during the Giants Medley and later provided an update on his condition on Instagram.

"I had an MRI yesterday evening and was informed that I have torn my plantar fascia during the Farmers and Yoke medley," he told his social media followers. "This injury will bring me a lot of pain and discomfort but the good news is I'm able to keep going with some pain management. Let's do this!"

RT Sport shared the following clip of the Icelander in action on Friday during qualifying, proving he can cope despite the tear to tissue in his foot:

Game of Thrones star Hafthor 'The Mountain' Bjornsson competes in the first qualifying round of the 2019 World Strongest Man competition where he is defending his title 💪 pic.twitter.com/bApaBV6VnA

— RT Sport (@RTSportNews) June 14, 2019

Even while nursing the issue, Bjornsson won the monster truck pull and deadlift events and was tied for first in the log press competition.

In Kieliszkowski and Shaw, who were second and third in the World's Strongest Man a year ago, respectively, Bjornsson will face serious competition as he seeks to retain his prize.

The 2018 success was Bjornsson's first win in the tournament, having previously finished third three times and as a runner-up on a further three occasions. Defending his title while carrying an injury would be his biggest success yet.

Icelandic powerlifter Hafthor Bjornsson continued the defence of his World's Strongest Man title on Friday despite suffering a torn plantar fascia on Thursday.

The Mountain was forced to stop during the second event, the Giants Medley, while carrying the super yoke and offered an update on his condition on Instagram.

"Quick update guys. I had an MRI yesterday evening and was informed that I have torn my plantar fascia during the Farmers and Yoke medley. This injury will bring me a lot of pain and discomfort but the good news is I’m able to keep going with some pain management. Let's do this!! #BackToBackChamp. Thanks for all the support guys I love you all."

Bjornsson had started the defence of his title well before the injury. He topped the standings in the Monster Truck Pull with a time of 34.36 seconds:

Game of Thrones star Hafthor 'The Mountain' Bjornsson competes in the first qualifying round of the 2019 World Strongest Man competition where he is defending his title 💪 pic.twitter.com/bApaBV6VnA

— RT Sport (@RTSportNews) June 14, 2019

The 30-year-old's injury saw him miss out on points in the second event, but he remained at the top of Group 1 on seven points along with Germany's Raffael Gordzielik and Great Britain's Luke Stoltman, per Aiman Zubair at Fitness Volt.

Bjornsson's injury problems did not seem to affect him on Friday, as he came back strongly and won the opening round of the dead lift competition.

Starting Strongman showed the scores:

Deadlift-group1-
muluzi 0,
Godzilla 4
Stoltman 5
Kearney 6
Thor 7

— Starting Strongman (@StartStrongman) June 14, 2019

The Mountain was then involved in a tie in the log press:

3 way tie for log in group 1 @ThorBjornsson_ advanced @strongestgay vs Luke Stoltman in the stones tomorrow...

— Starting Strongman (@StartStrongman) June 14, 2019

Bjornsson's comeback on Friday will allay fears over his injury problems and keeps him on course to retain his title in Bradenton, Florida.

Hafthor Bjornsson suffered an injury scare on Thursday during his bid to retain the World's Strongest Man title in Bradenton, Florida.

The 30-year-old Icelandic powerlifter, known for his role as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on Game of Thrones, appeared to pick up a problem during the second event.

Bjornsson could not complete the Giants Medley, which included a super yoke and a farmer's walk.

The defending champion was forced to stop while he carried the super yoke, as shown by Starting Strongman:

Rob Kearney Beats Hafthor Bjornsson in farmers / yoke medley Thor injured? https://t.co/IzAcLq7Suk via @YouTube

— Starting Strongman (@StartStrongman) June 13, 2019

The Mountain "walked away with medical staff," while spectators "voiced concerns about Bjornsson getting hurt," according to Mark Young at the Bradenton Herald.

Bjornsson had begun the defence of his title in fine style in the Monster Truck Pull. He took the top spot with a time of 34.36 seconds, according to Kalle Beck at Starting Strongman.

However, his inability to complete the Giants Medley will have an effect on his title defence, and any injury has the potential to blow the tournament wide open.

It's uncertain how serious an injury Bjornsson picked up during the qualifying round, which also consists of a deadlift competition, log press and a last-man-standing event.

The tournament will then move onto the final round, which sees contenders face a loading race, a deadlift competition and an overhead press medley before it concludes with a squat lift contest and the traditional Atlas Stone event. 

Gabriel Geay and Caroline Rotich won the men's and women's races respectfully at San Francisco's legendary Bay to Breakers event on Saturday.

Geay came in with a time of 35:01, while Rotich won at 39:28:

The winner of the 108th @AlaskaAir #BaytoBreakers is Gabriel Geay with a time of 35:01! Congrats Gabriel! pic.twitter.com/X64NLjzDSl

— Zappos Running Bay to Breakers (@Baytobreakers) May 19, 2019

The winner of the female division for the 108th @AlaskaAir #BaytoBreakers is Caroline Rotich with a time of 39:28! Nicely done, Caroline! pic.twitter.com/TkUvGIwU82

— Zappos Running Bay to Breakers (@Baytobreakers) May 19, 2019

Edwin Mokua, Trent Lusignan, Henry Mulenga and Samson Gebreyohannes rounded out the top five for the men, while Ivy Kibet, Jane Kibii, Kaylee Flanagan and Pasca Myers finished below Rotich in the top five among the women.

It's been a good month for Geay, who also won the Lilac Bloomsday Run on May 5 in Spokane, Washington. 

But as always, the stars of the show were the various costumed runners and spectators lining the course, even on a rainy day San Francisco, alongside some old traditions at the race:

TORTILLAS ARE FLYING! The race starts in 40 min! @KTVU #BaytoBreakers #B2B pic.twitter.com/4t5phPbOhU

— Sara Zendehnam (@szendehnam) May 19, 2019

Runners get ready to start the @Baytobreakers race in #SF. pic.twitter.com/zgFFR3Yjph

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) May 19, 2019

This runner is kind of a big dill! #BaytoBreakers pic.twitter.com/FDK2yJxLB7

— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) May 19, 2019

Runners get ready to start the Bay to Breakers race in downtown #SF. 📹: @gabriellelurie pic.twitter.com/ecFYvUdYCS

— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) May 19, 2019

The forecast called for rain on Sunday morning, though the clouds mostly parted by the beginning of the event. Regardless, participants didn't seem deterred.

"We figured we might have the best story to tell if it rains," Jim Snell, who ran with his 15-year-old son Jimmy, told Gwendolyn Wu of the San Francisco Chronicle.

"It's just a seven-mile party," Jimmy Snell added.

Part race, part spectacle, Bay to Breakers remains a staple of San Francisco culture and one of the more colorful long-distance running events in the country.

"This is one of those hashtag-only-in-San-Francisco moments," 43-year-old Garrett Hill told Wu.

Former California governor and bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger was attacked by a fan at the Arnold Classic Africa this weekend.

As The Governator was taking a Snapchat video at a gymnastics competition, a male fan came out of nowhere to drop-kick the 71-year-old Schwarzenegger in the back:

And if you have to share the video (I get it), pick a blurry one without whatever he was yelling so he doesn’t get the spotlight.

By the way... block or charge? pic.twitter.com/TEmFRCZPEA

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) May 18, 2019

While the kick was enough to push him into the crowd of people he was interacting with, Schwarzenegger stayed on his feet. Meanwhile, security quickly grabbed the attacker.

Schwarzenegger later took to social media to let everyone know he was fine:

Thanks for your concerns, but there is nothing to worry about. I thought I was just jostled by the crowd, which happens a lot. I only realized I was kicked when I saw the video like all of you. I’m just glad the idiot didn’t interrupt my Snapchat.

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) May 18, 2019

According to the event's Twitter account, the fan was turned over to law enforcement. Schwarzenegger does not intend to press charges.