LOS ANGELES MARATHON : A Hot Time, Slow Times in the City : Race: Brazil’s Rocha and Ukraine’s Klochko win their divisions. Survival, not personal bests, is order of day for 19,073.

The Los Angeles Marathon set off Sunday morning, with its 19,073 runners on a collision course with nature. Nature was the day’s winner, in a blaze of sunshine and heat. The conditions for running 26.2 miles were far from optimal. Sunday’s temperatures soared to near-record highs, topping out at 87 degrees at 1 p.m., about 20 degrees above normal and about 30 degrees higher than marathoners prefer. The heat produced the slowest times in the race’s eight-year history. On a day when merely finishing was a triumph, Joseildo Rocha of Brazil won the men’s race in 2 hours 14 minutes 29 seconds and Lubov Klochko of Ukraine led the women in 2:39:49. Both won a luxury automobile. With prize money available only for meeting certain time standards, Rocha qualified for the slowest time bonus offered, earning $2,500 for running under 2:15. Klochko’s time was well outside the women’s bonus schedule, which stops payouts at 2:33. Sunday’s was the race’s lowest prize money payout ever. The temperature at race time was 71 degrees, but the heat did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the lively array of entrants, who jogged in place along Exposition Boulevard like a roiling sea. The weather might have been a factor in driving spectators inside, as crowds along the course appeared sparse. Fast times were out of the question. However, that didn’t stop the race’s two rabbits from setting a blistering pace. The two runners were instructed to go though the half-marathon mark at about 1:06. Most of the elite runners were having none of it. “It was a suicide pace,” said Rocha, whose strategy was to stay back and conserve energy. The race was still unfolding at the halfway point, where the most experienced runners reassessed their condition at each mile. Tactics, they knew, would be crucial on a day when heat tempered speed. Peter Renner of New Zealand, who was third last year, had a tenuous grip on the lead until Mile 20, when he began to cramp. Rocha and teammate Jose Santana sensed Renner’s distress and pounced. Rocha and Santana, who train together in the town of Maceio in northern Brazil, matched stride for stride for three miles, as was their plan. In their wake were many of the race favorites. Also running together some minutes behind were Peter Tshikila of South Africa and John Treacy of Ireland, last year’s winner. Treacy said he was unprepared for the heat, having trained for six weeks at altitude in Albuquerque, N.M. “It really saps you, and there’s nothing that can be done once you are in the race,” Treacy said. “That last two miles . . . the only way I would sum them up would be they are murder.” Tshikila finished fourth and Treacy fifth, while the battle for the top three places was waged two minutes ahead. Rocha and Santana began racing in earnest in the last three miles, and Gumercindo Olmedo of Mexico slipped in behind them, alone in third. Rocha, who was second in last year’s race, vowed not not make the same mistakes and had saved his best for last. “The pace in the beginning was too fast,” he said. “I waited. I knew I would have a lot left in the second half. The biggest enemy was the heat.” Last year, Rocha’s enemies were three official race vehicles that drove on the course, obscuring his view of Treacy in the later stages of the race. This year, Rocha’s view was clear. He had no trouble holding off Santana, who finished second in 2:15. Olmedo was third in 2:15:40. There was no drama in the women’s race, only grueling inevitability. Klochko led wire to wire and ran as if holding the lead was a burden rather than a privilege. For the women, there was little joy in the race, save for finishing it. Carole Rouillard of Canada, who was second in 2:41:09, said that when the day dawned hot she abandoned any thoughts of a fast time. “I decided to run carefully,” she said, while trying to find a shady spot to sit. “I knew at a certain point that she (Klochko) was ahead of me by almost three minutes. I thought to just run for second. Then later, people were telling me, ‘She’s dying.’ I thought to myself, ‘I’m dying, too.’ ” Klochko only appeared to be dying. The 33-year-old had a score to settle with the race. Last year, she had to drop out with back pain after 13 miles, a decision made difficult because the race served as an Olympic trial for the team from the Commonwealth of Independent States. That frustration festered while Klochko trained in the snowy mountains of Ukraine, thinking of her teammates who ran at the Barcelona Olympics, one of whom won the gold medal in the marathon. Klochko’s will to win here was further strengthened at home, where her brother ridiculed her choice of professions. “Running is not a womanly pursuit,” he told her. Klochko could only laugh Sunday, while twirling the keys to her new Mercedes. What would her brother say to her now? she was asked. “He would say, ‘You must give me the keys to your car. I want it.’ ” Klochko said, laughing. “He will never get it. He will never ride in it.” Having said that, perhaps jokingly, Klochko clutched the key tightly in her hand and went off in search of a cool place in which to gloat.

The Top 10 MEN

Pl. Name Country/Town Time 1. Joseildo Rocha Brazil 2:14:29 2. Jose Santana Brazil 2:15:00 3. Gumercindo Olmedo Mexico 2:15:40 4. Peter Tshikila South Africa 2:17:22 5. John Treacy Ireland 2:17:28 6. Brad Hudson Eugene, Ore. 2:20:00 7. Rustam Shagiev Russia 2:23:18 8. Peter Renner New Zealand 2:25:19 9. Sam Rotich Albuquerque, N.M. 2:26:37 10. Joe Gilboy Irvine 2:28:14

WOMEN

Pl. Name Country/Town Time 1. Lubov Klochko Ukraine 2:39:49 2. Carole Rouillard Canada 2:41:09 3. Lutsia Belaeva Russia 2:44:26 4. Maddie Tormoen Albuquerque, N.M. 2:53:13 5. Judy A. Mercon Clearwater, Fla. 2:55:01 6. Mary J. Button Los Angeles 2:57:24 7. Candy Dodge Canyon Country 3:03:10 8. Marina Jones Rancho Santa Margarita 3:04:07 9. Jondelina Buckley Valley Village, Calif. 3:04:17 10. Stefania Oggiano Los Angeles 3:06:29

Year-by-Year Temperatures Temperatures represent the day’s high recorded at Los Angeles Civic Center. March 9, 1986: 65 degrees March 1, 1987: 68 degrees March 6, 1988: 64 degrees March 5, 1989: 73 degrees March 4, 1990: 62 degrees March 3, 1991: 73 degrees March 1, 1992: 71 degrees March 7, 1993: 87 degrees Source: National Weather Service

How Temperature Climbed Temperatures recorded at the Los Angeles Civic Center Sunday. 9 a.m.: 71 degrees 10 a.m.: 77 degrees 11 a.m.: 81 degrees Noon: 84 degrees 1 p.m.: 87 degrees 2 p.m.: 85 degrees 3 p.m.: 84 degrees Source: National Weather Service.