Marathon of New York
The marathon of New York is a pedestrian race of 42,195 Kilomètre S borrowing each year since 1970 the streets of New York.
History
The first marathon of New York City was held in 1970, the 127 competitors present ran several loops around Park Drive in Central Park. Only one hundred spectators could observe the victory of Gary Muhrcke in 2 h 31 min 38 S. For this first edition, only 55 runners passed the finishing line. During years, the marathon developed much.
In order to adapt to the growing number of the participants, in 1976, the cofounder of the race Fred Lebow, decides to redraw the course so that the runners can cross the five borough S on which the town of New York extends. This marathon increased its popularity two years after when Norwegian the Grete Waitz beats the world records while passing the finishing line after 2 h 32 min 30 S of race. It will gain nine times in 11 participations, by creating a record without precedent.
An official section for the candidates in wheel chairs was created in 2000. At the time of the edition of 2002, the women of elite began their race 35 minutes before the departure of the men of elite and the remainder of the runners.
Thirty seven years after its creation in 1970, the marathon of New York is certainly the marathon profiting from the greatest fame, although it is not largest in term of participants (25 000 to 30.000 participants against more than 45.000 for London).
Every year almost two million spectators encourages the runners throughout the course in New York. The marathon is retransmis on line on television on NBC and is followed by more than 315 million televiewers.
The race
The race begins with Staten Island close to the bridge Verrazano Narrows . The bridge which is normally reserved for the traffic of the vehicles, is completely closed for the event. During the first minutes of race, the bridge is submerged runners, image which makes each year the round the world tour and which is always the strong point of this marathon.The layout passes then by Brooklyn then by the Queens. The competitors cross the East River by the bridge Queensboro to join Manhattan. The route goes then towards north on the First Avenue and briefly passes in the Bronx before going back to Manhattan by the Fifth Avenue and finishing in Central Park.
Prize list
External bond
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Official site