NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (CNS) — The OC Marathon was held on its customary first Sunday in May Sunday for the first time since 2019 after being held on a virtual basis in 2020 and moved to November without a marathon in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's so good that we're back," Gary Kutscher, the race director for the SDCCU OC Marathon Running Festival, which also included a half-marathon Sunday and a 5K and kids' mile run that were held Saturday, said before the marathon. "I think it lets people know we're getting back to normal."

The marathon field of 2,200 included 85 runners from WeRock, We Run Our Community's Kids.

"Mentally, it means everything," program founder Andrea Kooiman said before the race of the return of the event in its entirety in its usual calendar spot.

"To go out there and run with the mass sound of feet pattering on the ground, to hear the cheers on the course, see the funny signs, to have all that back is such a true gift," Kooiman said. "The feeling of excitement and joy and appreciation is overwhelming."

J.J. Santana of Las Vegas was the men's winner in two hours, 22 minutes, 57 seconds, 12 seconds off the course record in his third marathon in less than five months.

The 35-year-old Santana set the half-marathon course record in November. He said he planned to celebrate Sunday's victory by taking his 6-month-old daughter Olivia and her mother to Disneyland.

Dylan Marx of Lemon Grove, California, was second among the men in 2:24.13 in his first marathon since the 2020 Olympic Trials.

The women's winner was 48-year-old Heather Huggins of Monrovia in 3:07:29, her first marathon victory following second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes.

"I'm going to sit down and cry for a while," Huggins said.

Monique Bienvenue of Fresno was second among the women in 3:12.06.

After Garrett Gahn of Huntington Beach crossed the finish line to complete his first marathon in 3:47:26, beating his goal of a sub-four-hour time, he dropped to one knee to propose to his girlfriend, Aurora Rodriguez.

"That was my motivation," Gahn said. "That's what got me across."

Gahn said he planned the proposal for a month.

"I was trying to figure out the right way (to propose), and I felt this was the most epic way I could do it," Gahn said. "I wanted to show her I can do anything if she's in my corner."

Rodriguez said she was "so proud" of her new fiance. "It's beautiful," she said. "I feel so happy, joyful."

The 26-mile, 385-yard marathon course began in front of the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa, then went through Corona del Mar and the Newport Harbor area.

The runners entered Costa Mesa, passed the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, went around South Coast Plaza and through Segerstrom High School.

The course continued for one mile in Santa Ana, then turned onto the Santa Ana River Trail for 1.5 miles, exiting at the Gisler foot bridge to run through the Mesa Verde neighborhoods and then the "Bird Streets."

The race ended at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa.

The race's 15 charity partners were expected to raise a total of $500,000 through the event, race publicist Dan Cruz told City News Service.

The charity partners include:

• Project Independence, which promotes civil rights for people with developmental disabilities
• PUSH for Empowered Pregnancy, which seeks to end preventable stillbirth
• Strides in Recovery, a nonprofit organization leading goal-oriented group running and walking programs for people with substance use disorders
• The OM Foundation, which seeks to build “early learning” centers providing various types of therapies for children with disabilities
• Outreach to the World, which supports orphans and widows, the sick and the poor in the rural community of Kiminini, Kenya