Approximately 11,000 registered participants took to the streets of Speed City, USA, as the United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series San Jose returned on the weekend.
Indicating some clawing back of participant numbers since the pandemic, the 11,000 reported participants in San Jose in 2023 is up on 8,000 registered runners in 2022, and around 6,000 runners in 2021.
The United Airlines Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose event offered runners and walkers alike distances of half marathon, 10K and 5K plus a KiDS ROCK event.
Nicknamed Speed City, USA, after the legendary San Jose State track teams of the 1960s, Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose offers up a flat and fast half marathon, 10K and 5K.
A large field of elite athletes toed the start line in the half marathon as many of them were hopeful to achieve the United States Olympics Team Trials qualifying standard.
In the half marathon, it was Fresno, California’s CJ Albertson (USA) pulling out the win in the men’s elite competition with a time of 1:03:02. The women’s elite title went to Flagstaff, Arizona’s Kellyn Taylor (USA) with a time of 1:11:40; Kellyn achieved the qualifying standard the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials, surpassing the 1:12:00 benchmark.
