Running One

The New York City Marathon is an yearly marathon which courses through the five districts of New York City (NYC). This race is recognised as one of the USA’s premier sporting events. The NYC Marathon is the biggest race in the world with 53,508 finishing the 2019 marathon. The marathon is so popular, that admission to it for the general runner is mostly by a lottery method with most hoping to enter not getting accepted. A certain highlight of the race will be the almost 2 million spectators that line the route, nearly having a party to back up all the runners and cheer them on with celebrations all over the course. The event is set up by the New York Road Runners and has been run every year since 1970, apart from two occasions. The 2012 race 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 event usually takes place on the first Sunday in November. The 50th running of the marathon is scheduled for the 7 November 2021.

The initial event manager or organizer was the late Fred Lebow who passed away in 1994. The initial New York City marathon in 1970 merely had 55 competitors that finished. Fred then nurtured the New York Marathon to progressively end up being the great celebration that it is. The colour, the story, the nature and the electricity of the marathon was narrated in an absorbing 2009 book by the Liz Robbins, a former sportswriter at The New York Times titled ‘A Race Like No Other’. Her narrative was around the 2007 running of the marathon. She tracked the stories of both the top as well as newbie runners along the 26.2 miles of the route as it moved through the roads of New York, from the starting line at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge all the way to the finish line that is in Central Park. Her book has sold well and captured it all very well.

It was maybe the 1983 NYC marathon that captured the attention of so many, especially a nationwide television viewers since it had been broadcast live. Geoff Smith from England was in front for most of the way and was caught and passed at the 26 mile mark in Central Park by Rod Dixon coming from New Zealand. When there was 6 miles left, Rod Dixon was two and half minutes behind Smith but slowly came back to win by just nine seconds. Just after Rod Dixon passed the line to celebrate standing, Smith collapsed on the line. A picture captured that moment and became an iconic picture known as the “Thrill of Victory/Agony of Defeat” picture.

The latest race fastest time for males is 2:05:05, set by Geoffrey Mutai from Kenya in 2011 and for females it’s 2:22:31 set by Margaret Okayo also coming from Kenya back in 2003. The recreational joggers are given 8hr and 30 minutes in order to complete the marathon. The Olympic athlete Grete Waitz won her initial New York City Marathon in 1978, winning in a back then race record time in 2:32:30. Waitz proceeded to win a further eight races, still having the record for the most number of wins.