City College campus will host an estimated 6,500 runners Saturday, acting as the point of operations and finish line for the Santa Barbara International Marathon.

This is the fourth consecutive year City College has hosted the event and college officials are expecting up to 12,000 spectators and volunteers.

“I think that we’ve really developed a stronger relationship and really worked closer together this year than we have in previous years and that will result in a highly professional, extremely organized and nice environment for the participants and spectators,” said Athletic Director Ryan Byrne.

The college is renting La Playa Stadium to the marathon for $9,500 and donating $7,500 to the athletic department for providing 75 student-athlete and eight coach volunteers. The remaining $2,000 will go to Community Services, a special events department at the college.

“We are happy to have the opportunity to raise some funds for athletics,” said Byrne “It’s a lot of work and a lot of preparation that goes into it, but ultimately it’s a great opportunity to showcase our facility and for the community to meet our student-athletes.”

Volunteers will set up after tonight’s football game.  They will work until 1 a.m. and return at 6 a.m. Saturday morning, doing everything from traffic control to organizing participants until 4:30 p.m.

Parking lots 1-A and 5-1 will be used for event parking. The charge to park will be $5. Food services will be selling tri-tip, burgers and hot dogs for spectators. Last year food services earned $5,000.

“There is a lot that goes into it, “ said Joe Sullivan vice president of business services. “We have a great relationship with the marathon staff and it’s always a fun event.”

Sullivan, who competes in triathlons won’t be running but said he has his own marathon tradition.

“I’m doing the mile-19 water stop,” he said. “The first year I was going to run it and then I got injured so we started doing the water stop and we’ve been doing it ever since. It’s my way of giving back.

City College will have representation in the field of runners. Assistant cross country and track coach Steven Scrafford will be an “elite entrant” for the half marathon, meaning he plans to finish in the top 5. Scrafford, a City College alumnus, was the WSC Track Athlete of the Year in 2010.

For marathon route and event information please see sbimarathon.com.

Update: It was previously reported that City College was the start and finish line. This story has been corrected to say that it was, “the point of operations and finish line.”