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What's the deal with … the New York City Marathon? Runners from around the world hit the Big Apple for a few hours of stinky, sweaty, scenic fun.
Sporting News, The, Nov 11, 2005 by Sean Deveney
In 1976, six years after the first New York City Marathon simply involved participants running around Central Park until they reached 26.2 miles, marathon co-founder Fred Lebow had a vision--why not make the course inclusive, bringing all of New York City into the marathon? Previously, marathons had attracted tight groups of hard-core runners and drawn little fanfare.
Lebow changed that when he devised a route winding through all five of New York's boroughs and developed a model for city marathons all over the world. The 36th annual New York City Marathon takes place Sunday.
Highlights
Mile 23. Almost there. The course enters Central Park, which is fairly hilly, at East 90th Street.
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Mile 26. Ah, the finish line, located at the world famous Tavern on the Green restaurant.
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Mile 9. Fight the power! Runners pass through Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant district, the setting for Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.
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Mile 1. The New York City marathon starts at Fort Wadsworth, a former military base on Staten Island, and proceeds over the Verrazauo-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn.
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Mile 20. The Willis Bridge leads to the Bronx for the toughest leg of the marathon. The crowd thins out considerably by this point. Yankee Stadium appears on the right shortly thereafter.
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Mile 15. The 96-year-old Queensboro Bridge takes runners into Manhattan, where a large, vocal crowd waits on First Avenue.
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Mile 7. The route runs near Prospect Park, just blocks from where Ebbets Field once stood.
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Great moments
1976 Olympian Bill Rodgers began his string of four straight New York City Marathon victories.
1978 Norwegian Grete Waltz set a world record in her first marathon but was so exhausted she vowed never to run another. She wound up winning nine New York City Marathons.
1994 In first place, Mexico's German Silva took a wrong turn entering the 26th mile. He raced back when he realized his mistake, caught the leader and pulled out a win.
2001 Just weeks after the September 11 attacks, an enormous crowd lined New York's streets and watched Ethiopian Tesfaye Jifar set a course record (which still stands) at 2:07:43.
Runners to watch
Hailu Negussie, Ethiopia. He pulled away from the pack at the 21-mile mark in Boston, racking up a 36-second margin of victory.
PAUL TERGAT, Kenya. The world record holder, he ran at Berlin in just 2:04:55.
Lyubov Denisova, Russia. The third-place finisher in New York last year, Denisova set a new course record at the Los Angeles Marathon in March.
Susan Chepkemei, Kenya. She lost a tense duel with Paula Radcliffe last year, but Radcliffe is sitting out this one.
The best big-city marathons
1 Boston. Its history and competitiveness give the grand old course an unparalleled mystique.
2 New York. This was the prototype for the modern mega marathon.
3 Chicago. The flat terrain is easy on the knees and can lower your time, and the crowds are big and fun.
4 San Francisco. It's hilly but gorgeous--the Golden Gate Bridge is most impressive when crossed on foot.
5 Honolulu. It's very crowded, but if you're going to run 26.2 miles, you might as well do it here.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
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