Carlsbad Marathon

CARLSBAD ---- It was a contest of happy shout-outs for relatives, friends and good causes Sunday on the periphery of the annual Carlsbad Marathon.

"I like to think my daddy's going to win and share his medal with me," said 4-year-old Patrick Rainey of Coronado, whose sister Leslie, 24, had traveled from Baltimore to race alongside their dad Joe.

The family was among nearly 10,000 runners completing the marathon and half marathon races.

Josh Spiker of Ventura finished first in the marathon, completing the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 56 seconds. Shawna Wilskey of Burlington, Wash., was the top woman in 3:01:17. The half marathon winners were Wesley Korir (1:02:45), and Jane Kibii (1:12:26).

Thousands of fans lined the race route before daylight, quickly filling up hundreds of parking spaces at the Westfield shopping mall in Carlsbad to cheer. The mall's shopping carts proved handy for the "On a Roll for a Cure" team for wheelchair-bound Charles Cook of Rancho Penasquitos, who lost his ability to walk and talk because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

About midway through the marathon, as family members and friends were taking turns pushing the wheelchair, the front wheels broke, said his son, Richard Cook of San Diego.

"We found a shopping cart, removed the wheels to replace the broken wheels, and they were back in the marathon," Cook said.

The western end of the mall's parking lot was filled with music stages and tents containing equipment, clothing and food. Official Carlsbad Marathon T-shirts were popular sellers "after we lowered our prices to $10 because of the economy," said Pat Flanagan of San Marcos, an employee of event organizer In Motion Inc.

This year, the event benefited 17 charities through fundraising and awareness events.

Kim Matilla of Los Angeles was among a crowd of 20 wearing "Bring It!" T-shirts to match those of 40 runners who had traveled from Los Angeles and Bakersfield to race in memory of Dominic Ambriz.

"He was one of my closest friends," Matilla said of the native of Bakersfield, an avid marathon runner and toy maker for Mattel in Los Angeles.

Matilla said the words "bring it" had become Ambriz's slogan after undergoing his first rounds of chemotherapy for brain cancer before his death last year at the age of 28.

Lauren McGraw of Carlsbad was cheering for an international team of 60 runners from the United States, Costa Rica and the Republic of Kenya ---- all wearing "Heart for Africa" T-shirts.

McGraw said this is the second year the nonprofit organization entered the marathon to raise money for the poor in Africa.

"This year we're running for a shelter and a well that will go to Swaziland," McGraw said. "We've raised $26,000 just for this race. It's awesome."