New York Marathon
The NEW YORK MARATHON sponsored by ING is arguably the world’s greatest marathon and the 40th running of this great event will be held on Sunday November 1 2009.
The New York Marathon is the centrepiece event of the New York Road Runners (NYRR). The NYRR serves 300,000 runners and walkers annually, including 40,000 members from every U.S. state and dozens of countries around the world. The New York Marathon is 1 of 5 World Major Marathons comprising Berlin,
Boston, Chicago and London.
The course winds its way through all 5 major boroughs of New York City, namely Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Manhattan, passing over 5 bridges with a spectacular finish in Central Park spurred on by more than 2 million spectators.
The first running of the event was held in 1970 with 127 participants and only 55 finishers. American Gary Muhrcke won the men’s race in 2.31.39 and compatriot Beth Bonner won the ladies event in 2.55.22. There have been 39 runnings and incredibly Norweigen Grete Waitz won the womens event 9 times.
American Bill Rodgers has the most wins in the mens section having won the famous event on 4 occasions. Last year Brazilian Marilson Gomez dos Santos won the men’s event in 2.08.43 and Britain Paula Radcliffe won her 3rd New York Marathon in a time of 2.23.56. A world record has never been broken in the New York City marathon. Ethiopian Tesfaye Jifar set the mens course record in 2001 with a time of 2.07.43 whilst Margaret Okayo of kenya ran 2.22.31 in the same year.
Every each the field comprises several celebrities. In 2008 notable runners included Katies Holmes (Mrs Tom Cruise), rap star P Diddy and 6-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
In 2009 the elite athletes will compete for a prize purse of $600,600. The field is restricted to 37,000 entrants but last year 105,000 people applied to take part in the 2008 New York Marathon from all corners of the globe.
To learn more about how to participate in this famous race click here
