Route map for the 5K

It’s actually a 2 1/2 K course.  Start at the blue dot, end at the yellow dot.  To do 5K, make the obvious transition from yellow to blue and run it again, concluding at the yellow dot.

Blue box:  home of Ed Keenan and Carol Archie (thanks, Ed and Carol).

Orange box:  Campbell Hall.  It’s only a five minute walk to the starting line.

Turns will be marked with chalk arrows on the pavement; ditto for the starting line and the finish line.

History

The UCLA Linguistics 5K is considerably older than most of the people who currently compete in it. In fact, no one really can remember when the first one was, but it is likely that it was sometime around 1980 or 1981; I can personally vouch that the 1982 version, my first, was not the inaugural. Early enthusiasts who helped establish the 5K as a tradition were Peter and Jenny Ladefoged, Russ Schuh and then-UCLA professor Ian Maddieson. The tradition of establishing “divisions” with just one runner in them seems to be about as old as the 5K itself.

In the early years, the 5K was run on a challengingly steep course on Stone Canyon Road, north of UCLA, and the post-run party was at the Ladefoged’s house in Laurel Canyon. The 5K was held for one year on the grounds of the Veterans Administration, with a picnic in Westwood Park, then at some point (ca. 1995?) moved to its current home in Holmby Hills.

—Bruce Hayes