The New York City Marathon is an annual 26.2 mile (42 K)
road running race held in the 5 boroughs of
New York City. The race starts in Staten Island at one
end of the Verrazanno-Narrows Bridge, continues north through
Brooklyn and Queens, turns west and crosses the
Queensboro Bridge (aka the 59th Street Bridge) into
Manhattan to complete 16 miles. The remaining 10 miles
consist of a jaunt up 1st Ave. across the Willis Ave. Bridge
into The Bronx and then a short 1 mile run west before
crossing back into Manhattan and running down 5th Ave.
The last 3.5 miles are inside Central Park, looping around
Central Park South to finish on the west part of the park
by Tavern on the Green.
I ran this race, my first marathon ever, last year (November 1999).
I have to say that, in spite of the difficulty of enduring such
a race, everything about the event was exhilarating. The long
stretch in Brooklyn is lined with people all along 4th Ave. and
the other streets. Queens is quieter as the route goes through a
little more industrial area. It's a little harder without the
crowds, but there aren't crowds when you train so you can slip
into a familiar zone. But then, as a first timer, I was totally
unprepared for coming off the Queensboro Bridge and turning onto
1st Avenue where there are bleachers set up on the sidewalks and
the roar of the crowds penetrates your body. Keep in mind that
they were still roaring for people running a 9 min/mi pace --
the lead runners run around a 5 min/mi pace. After going past
midtown toward East Harlem and The Bronx, the crowd is thinner
and you can prepare yourself for the final haul up the grade
in Central Park, where again the crowds are standing
shoulder-to-shoulder and three deep. I wish I were running
the NYC Marathon again this year, but I'm running the
Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC this coming
weekend (22 Oct 2000) instead. I'll post a report on that next
week.
Here is some interesting history regarding the NYC Marathon
which I gleaned from the pages at www.nyrrc.org .
Notes
In 2005 Paul Tergat beat Hendrik Ramaala, the 2004 winner, by less
than a second.
YEAR Male Winner time Female Winner time #Finishers
==== ============ ====== ============== ======= ========
1970 Gary Muhrcke 2:31:38 no finisher 55
1971 Norman Higgins 2:22:54 Beth Bonner 2:55:22 164
1972 Sheldon Karlin 2:27:52 Nina Kuscsik 3:08:41 187
1973 Tom Fleming 2:19:25 Nina Kuscsik 2:57:07 282
1974 Norbert Sander 2:26:30 Kathrine Switzer 3:07:29 259
1975 Tom Fleming 2:19:27 Kim Merritt 2:46:14 339
1976 Bill Rodgers 2:10:10 Miki Gorman 2:39:11 1549
1977 Bill Rodgers 2:11:28 Miki Gorman 2:43:10 3885
1978 Bill Rodgers 2:12:12 Grete Waitz 2:32:30 8588
1979 Bill Rodgers 2:11:42 Grete Waitz 2:27:33 10477
1980 Alberto Salazar 2:09:41 Grete Waitz 2:25:42 12512
1981 Alberto Salazar 2:08:13 Allison Roe 2:25:29 13223
1982 Alberto Salazar 2:09:29 Grete Waitz 2:27:14 13599
1983 Rod Dixon 2:08:59 Grete Waitz 2:27:00 14546
1984 Orlando Pizzolato 2:14:53 Grete Waitz 2:29:30 14590
1985 Orlando Pizzolato 2:11:34 Grete Waitz 2:28:34 15881
1986 Gianni Poli 2:11:06 Grete Waitz 2:28:06 19689
1987 Ibrahim Hussein 2:11:01 Priscilla Welch 2:30:17 21244
1988 Steve Jones 2:08:20 Grete Waitz 2:28:07 22405
1989 Juma Ikangaa 2:08:01 Ingrid Kristiansen 2:25:30 24659
1990 Douglas Wakiihuri 2:12:39 Wanda Panfil 2:30:45 23774
1991 Salvador Garcia 2:09:28 Liz McColganGreat 2:27:32 25797
1992 Willie Mtolo 2:09:29 Lisa Ondieki 2:24:40 27797
1993 Andres Espinosa 2:10:04 Uta Pippig 2:26:24 26597
1994 German Silva 2:11:21 Tegla Loroupe 2:27:37 29735
1995 German Silva 2:11:00 Tegla Loroupe 2:28:06 26754
1996 Giacomo Leone 2:09:54 Anuta Catuna 2:28:43 28182
1997 John Kagwe 2:08:12 Franziska Rochat-Moser 2:28:43 30427
1998 John Kagwe 2:08:45 Franca Fiacconi 2:25:17 31539
1999 Joseph Chebet 2:09:14 Adriana Fernandez 2:25:06 31786
2000 Abdelkhader El Mouaziz 2:10:08 Ludmila Petrova 2:25:45 29327
2001 Tesfaye Jifar 2:07:43 Margret Okayo 2:24:21 23648
2002 Rodgers Rop 2:08:07 Joyce Chepchumba 2:25:56 31824
2003 Martin Lel 2:10:30 Margret Okayo 2:22:31 34662
2004 Hendrik Ramaala 2:09:27 Paula Radcliffe 2:23:10 36562
2005 Paul Tergat 2:09:30 Jelena Prokopcuka 2:24:41 37597
2006 Marilson Gomes dos Santos 2:09:58 Jelena Prokopcuka 2:25:05 37954
2007 Martin Lel 2:09:04 Paula Radcliffe 2:23:09 38554
2008 Marilson Gomes dos Santos 2:08:43 Paula Radcliffe 2:23:56 37750