The New York City Marathon is an annual race that goes through all the five districts of New York City. This marathon is recognized as on the list of USA’s most recognized sports activities. It is the largest sized worldwide with 53,508 finishers the 2019 event. The race is really popular, that admittance to it for the general runner is generally by a lottery method with most wanting to enter missing out. An important highlight of the run is the nearly 2 million spectators that line the course, nearly having a party with supporting all the athletes and cheer them on with activities all along the road. The race is organized by the New York Road Runners and has been run each year since 1970, with the exception of two occasions. The 2012 race was cancelled because of the flooding from Hurricane Sandy and in 2020 when it was cancelled as a consequence of COVID-19 outbreak. The race usually takes place on the first Sunday in November. The half century anniversary running of the marathon is planned for the 7 November 2021.
The initial New York City Marathon manager or organizer was the late Fred Lebow who passed away in 1994. The first run in 1970 merely had 55 competitors that finished. He then nurtured the NYC Marathon to gradually end up being the wonderful occasion that it is. The colour, the story, the character and the charge of the event was captured in an interesting 2009 book from the Liz Robbins, a previous sports journalist at The New York Times titled ‘A Race Like No Other’. Her plot was about the 2007 running of the event. Robbins traced the experiences of both professional as well as amateur runners over the 26.2 miles of the race as it went through the streets of New York, from the starting line at the Verrazano Narrows Bridge to the finish line that is in Central Park. It has sold well and narrated everything so well.
It was probably the 1983 event that captured the interest of so many, particularly a nationwide TV audience as it had been broadcast live. Geoff Smith from the UK was in front for the majority of the way and 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 was two and half minutes behind Smith however slowly came back to get victory by 9 seconds. Just after Dixon crossed the finish line to enjoy standing, Smith collapsed on the line. A picture captured that moment and became an iconic picture called the “Thrill of Victory/Agony of Defeat” photograph.
The present race record for men is 2:05:05, done by Geoffrey Mutai coming from Kenya in 2011 and for women it is 2:22:31 done by Margaret Okayo likewise coming from Kenya back in 2003. The slower runners have 8 hours and 30 minutes to do the distance. The Olympic athlete Grete Waitz won her first NYC Marathon in 1978, coming first in a then course record time of 2:32:30. Grete proceeded to get victory in an additional eight events, still having the record for the most number of victories.