Children kick off marathon weekend in Costa Mesa

About 9,000 children kicked off the 13th annual US Bank OC Marathon events Saturday morning at the OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa Mayor Katrina Foley attended the event. They ran as part of the Kids Run the OC program, which is a 10-12 week club geared toward keeping kids fit. The kids run 26.2 miles — the length of a marathon — over the duration of the program, culminating with the final mile on Saturday morning.

The children ran a mile among eight different heats, ranging in ages from 11 to 6 and under.

Later in the evening, the Wahoo’s OC 5K took place with a free beer waiting for participants at the finish line.

The OC Marathon begins Sunday morning at 5:30 a.m. at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.