The New York Marathon is listed as a World Marathon Major event and hosts one of the world’s largest fields of elite runners.
Also known as the ING New York City Marathon this 42.195-kilometer running course winds its way through 5 of the famous Big Apple’s boroughs.
The New York Marathon occurs during the 1st Sunday in November and runners from almost every country are eager to enter this event.
This excitement is shared by millions of spectators who watch the race on television or line up along every inch of the course perimeter.
New York Marathon Brief History
The New York Road Runners Club was responsible for the debut of the New York Marathon in 1970. Thanks to the efforts of Vincent Chiappetta and Fred Lebow nearly 130 runners took to the field for the very first New York City Marathon.
There were approximately 100 spectators watching as Gary Muhrcke claimed first place with a time of 2:31:38. Even though the course was just a few loops around Central Park only 55 entrants managed to complete the race.
The popularity of this marathon grew rapidly and by 1976 the course was redesigned. The newly designed course now included each of the city’s 5 boroughs.
In addition to being able to accommodate the rising number of runners the larger course was generating interest throughout the entire city.
Today the New York Marathon includes a division for wheelchair and handcycle entrants.
This one race is now recognized as the largest of all marathons in the world and almost 2,000,000 spectators turn out each year to watch the marathon events unfold.
Course Information
This 26.219-mile course is ranked with other top running events including the Berlin, London, Chicago and Boston Marathons.
The organization committee (New York Road Runners) uses a lottery drawing to decide which runners will be included in this field, but a few slots are set-aside for members of recognized running clubs.
The starting line for the New York Marathon is located near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge at Staten Island. For this annual event the city closes the bridge to traffic and the surge of runners is a wonderful sight for spectators to witness.
Once the bridge has been crossed the course leads to Brooklyn, NY and then the runners will wind their way through the Bay Ridge, Park Slope, Williamsburg. Greenpoint, Sunset Park and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods.
At the halfway point of the race marathoners will run across the Pulaski Bridge. This also is where the runners will begin entering Long Island City, Queens, and NY.
From here the course continues onto the Queensboro Bridge, over the East River and into the city of Manhattan. This bridge tends to separate the top runners from the rest of the pack because this climb is perhaps the most challenging of the entire race.
Runners will travel along First Avenue, sweep through the Willis Avenue Bridge in the Bronx and then race along the Madison Avenue Bridge.
The next portion of the course winds through an area of Harlem; along Fifth Avenue and then into Central Park.
Many spectators and race enthusiasts can be found at the south end of Central Park where cheers echo as the runners pound their way down that last mile stretch.
The finish line is located at Tavern on the Green, and there is always a large crowd waiting to congratulate each runner as they complete this marathon event.
The start of the New York Marathon takes place at 10:10 am. Runners are given 8.5 hours to complete the course and the elite runners will generally complete the course in just over 2-2.5 hours.
For the past 3 years a corral system has been in place, which allows women to have a brief head start of 35 minutes.
Then the other runners are released onto the course through a series of 3 starts that are staggered to prevent trampling and injuries from occurring at the start of the race.
The finish times are calculated with the use of computerized chips that are attached to the shoes of the entrants. These times are referred to as ‘net’ times.
There are also timing mats located at each 5km interval which provide information about ‘split’ times; and emails are posted to let fans, friends and family members track their favorite runners.
Up until Mile #8 at Brooklyn’s Lafayette Avenue runners are divided among several different courses. No matter which course is involved the total distance is unchanged.
Fascinating Facts to Ponder
Norway’s Grete Waitz chalked up 9 wins in the women’s division of the New York Marathon- and she even established a new record in 1978 with a time of 2:32:30. (Several female runners have since broken this record.)
Another female runner in the New York Marathon created a scandal in 1979 when it was determined that she crossed the finish line with a clocked time of 2:56:29 but had not completed the entire race.
Her failure to run the course was not discovered until after she was credited with the finish time of less than 3 hours and had qualified to race in the Boston Marathon the following year.
In 1981 Alberto Salazar registered a time of 2:08:13, which was a world’s record, but then his time was disallowed once officials determined the track was 150 meters too short.
German “Wrong Way” Silva inadvertently took an incorrect turn during the 1994 New York Marathon but he still won the race by a full 2 seconds over Benjamin Paredes. This feat included Silva running the final mile in a time of 5:15.
In 2010 G. Gebregmariam, a first time entrant from Ethiopia, dominated the men’s division.
Registration for New York Marathon
Individuals who are at least 18 years of age on, or before, the day of the race are eligible to apply for registration. Each person is only allowed to submit one application.
The registration deadline occurs several months prior to the date of the marathon. The 2011 deadline was midnight on April 19th.
There are many different stipulations concerning eligibility and participation and you need to plan early if you want to have a serious chance of being among the field of runners taking the field in this world class event.
You can find detailed information about registering for the 2012 New York Marathon available online.
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