Since its inception, the marathon claims to have raised in excess of $100 million for charities. In 2008 the Competitor Group took over Elite Racing, the company that had been organizing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. The following year, 2009, an internal audit revealed that the charity in whose name the race had been run, Elite Racing Foundation for Children, Education & Medical Research, had been improperly commingling funds with the for-profit Elite Racing. It further found that the foundation was being operated "in many instances for the benefit of the for-profit," and that the charity's role in hosting the races had been overstated. As a result, the race had benefited improperly from hundreds of thousands of dollars in public subsidies and grants. In announcing the results of the audit, Competitor said it would return $190,500 to
San Diego County and $152,544 to the City of
San Diego, spend the remaining foundation funds on health and wellness causes, file amended tax returns, and dissolve the foundation. Competitor Group made the final payments in October 2009. Altogether the company returned $344,176 to the city and county. ==Records==