Loma Linda's December Starts at a Fire Station, at 7 A.M., on Foot

Organizers call the Lopers Club Holiday Classic "the Inland Empire's longest running annual holiday running event." The 37th edition runs on Sunday, December 6, 2026. The start line is at the corner of Barton Road and Loma Linda Drive, in front of the Loma Linda Fire Station. The first wave goes at 7:00 a.m.

That Sunday 7 a.m. start matters. The Lopers Club and the City of Loma Linda put on the race together, and on a normal Sunday the club heads out for training miles at about that same hour. Seen that way, the Holiday Classic is one Sunday on a schedule the club keeps all year.

The Start Line Is a Working Firehouse

The race page gives the start and finish as "in front of the Loma Linda Fire Station located at 11325 Loma Linda Drive." The station is also a collection point for the season's biggest toy drive.

The Loma Linda Fire Department and ABC7 are running the 34th annual Spark of Love Toy Drive alongside the race. The fire department takes new, unwrapped toys and sports equipment for children and teens who need them, and the toys collected are donated to families in the community. You don't need a race bib to give. The race page says donations are also accepted at both Loma Linda fire stations and at Loma Linda City Hall. The city's Firefighter's Association page lists the association as a Spark of Love contributor.

So the same corner on Barton Road is where Sunday's runners gather and where neighbors can drop off a bike or a basketball in the weeks before. If you're running, bringing a toy to the start makes the morning count twice.

Three Distances, One Clock

The half marathon, 10K and 5K share one start, with waves 10 minutes apart beginning at 7:00 a.m. Walkers can do the half too. It has a 4-hour course limit, which the organizers say works for anyone who can hold an 18-minute-per-mile pace. The page expects "many walkers as well as runners" at all three distances.

Here's how the three events compare, using the Garmin course maps linked from the race's course maps page and the prices showing at checkout in early November:

Garmin shows 533 feet of climbing on the half marathon route. The organizers describe the course as offering "scenic mountain views with stimulating inclines" as it winds through Loma Linda's streets.

The small print that matters for the next few weeks:

• Shirts. Everyone who signed up before November 1, 2026, gets a long-sleeved tech shirt. Later sign-ups get one while supplies last, and the page warns your size may be gone if you register less than three weeks before the race. Three weeks before December 6 is Sunday, November 15.
• Teams. Teams of 5 to 14 get $5 off per person, and teams of more than 15 get $10 off per person. Four neighbors from one street plus one coworker make a team.
• Parking. You can park in any nearby lot except the Veterans Hospital lot.
• After the finish. Every half marathon, 10K and 5K finisher gets a medal and a free breakfast, plus a free mini-massage from Precision in Movement.
• Awards. Trophies go to the top male and female finisher in each race, and medals go to the top three men and women in each of 20 age divisions.

Twenty age divisions makes winning a medal more realistic for an ordinary runner than most local races do.

The Elves Trot

The youngest racers get their own event. The Elves Trot is a quarter-mile fun run for kids ages 3 to 6, and every elf who takes part gets a Santa medal. A parent can run the 5K, cool down, and still catch the trot without leaving the Barton Road start area.

The Club Behind It Meets Every Sunday

The organizer is what makes this more than a one-day event. According to the Lopers Club history page, the Loma Linda Lopers started in 1977. In 2007 the group began calling itself simply The Lopers Club, because runners and walkers were coming to its training program from all over the Inland Empire.

The club's goals have changed over the years:

"While the Lopers originally trained for the Honolulu Marathon, the Club decided in 1986 to make training for the L.A. Marathon one of its major events."

The weekly routine is what most Loma Linda residents can join. The club says the Lopers meet Sundays at 6:30 a.m. at the Drayson Center on the Loma Linda University campus. From August through March, each Sunday opens with a 30-minute program of announcements and guest speakers on nutrition, shoes, hydration, gear and motivation. Members head out for their training miles around 7:00 a.m. They run in pace groups led by experienced marathoners, so a new member trains with people at the same level. From April through July, members still meet, just less formally.

Put the race next to that calendar and it lines up. December 6 falls in the middle of the August-to-March clinic season. The 7:00 a.m. start matches the hour the club already goes out on a normal Sunday. The club says nearly 100 percent of members who finish the training program complete their first marathon or half marathon each year. For someone who runs the Holiday Classic 5K and enjoys it, the next step is the Drayson Center at 6:30 the following Sunday.

Three Nights Earlier, a Tree Lighting

A different event opens the week. City planning records list a "Christmas Tree Lighting (Christmas in the Park)" for December 3 at Citrus Trails Park. This year, December 3 is a Thursday. Last year a City Council report listed the ceremony for Monday, December 1, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Check the city's community calendar for this year's start time as the date gets closer.

That puts Loma Linda's first week of December in this order:

1. Thursday, December 3: Christmas in the Park tree lighting at Citrus Trails Park, as listed in city planning records.
2. Sunday, December 6, 7:00 a.m.: The 37th Holiday Classic half marathon, 10K and 5K, plus the Elves Trot, starting in front of the fire station at 11325 Loma Linda Drive.
3. Any time before the race: New, unwrapped toys for Spark of Love at either Loma Linda fire station or at City Hall.

The tree lighting happens on a weeknight in a park. The race happens on Sunday at dawn, starting at a firehouse and put on by a club founded in 1977 that meets at the Drayson Center at 6:30 a.m. every Sunday.

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