The New York City Marathon is an yearly marathon which courses through all the five boroughs of New York City (NYC). This marathon is considered one of the USA’s highest regarded sports events. This marathon is the biggest in the world with 53,508 finishing the 2019 marathon. The marathon can be so popular, that entry to it for the avergae runner is usually by a lottery system with most wanting to get in not getting in. An important feature of the race is the almost two million fans that line the route, practically having a celebration to back up all the athletes and cheer all of them on with activities all along the course. The NYC Marathon is set up by the New York Road Runners and has now been held annually since 1970, aside from 2 yrs. The 2012 marathon was called off as a result of flooding from Hurricane Sandy and in 2020 when it was cancelled as a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic. The NYC marathon typically takes place on the very first Sunday in November. The half century anniversary running of the marathon is scheduled for the 7 November 2021.
The very first New York City Marathon director or organizer was the late Fred Lebow who died in 1994. The initial NYC marathon in 1970 merely had 55 runners who completed it. He then developed the NYC Marathon to gradually end up being the great occasion that it is. The color, the history, the character and the power of the marathon was caught in an absorbing 2009 book from the Liz Robbins, a former sports writer at The New York Times named ‘A Race Like No Other’. Her book was around the 2007 running of the event. Robbins traced the stories of both professional and beginner athletes along the 42 kms of the race as it went through the roads of New York, from the starting line at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge to the finish line that is in Central Park. Her book has sold well and captured it all so well.
It was maybe the 1983 New York City marathon which grabbed the attention of so many, particularly a national television audience as it was broadcast live. Geoffrey Smith from England was leading for most of the way and he was caught and passed at the 26 mile mark in Central Park by Rod Dixon coming from New Zealand. With 6 miles to go, Rod Dixon was two and half minutes behind Smith but crawled back to win by 9 seconds. Just after Dixon passed the finish line to rejoice standing, Smith collapsed on the ground. An image caught that moment and became an iconic photograph referred to as “Thrill of Victory/Agony of Defeat” photo.
The present course record for men is 2:05:05, done by Geoffrey Mutai coming from Kenya in 2011 and for females it is 2:22:31 done by Margaret Okayo also coming from Kenya in 2003. The back of the pack joggers have 8hr and 30 minutes to finish the distance. The Olympic athlete Grete Waitz won her 1st New York City Marathon in 1978, winning in a back then race record time of 2:32:30. Grete went on to get victory in a further eight NYC marathons, still holding the title for the most number of wins.