The announcement came late in the day on Friday: the New York City Marathon would not take place. And while some of those entered to run the marathon did express disappointment, many of them turned their attention to a much bigger cause — Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. See how thousands of runners spent marathon Sunday, including an unofficial race and the delivery of supplies to the city's hardest-hit areas.
Amidst criticism amongst some runners and politicians to cancel the New York City Marathon in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, race organizers say it will go on as scheduled this Sunday. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mary Wittenberg, chief executive of New York Road Runners (NYRR), defended their decision as a means to help the city recover and show its resiliency. Bloomberg also stressed that the city's resources would not be diverted away from relief efforts on race day. Historically, the marathon pours millions of dollars into the city from tourism, and raises tens of millions of dollars for various charities.
"There's tens of thousands of people who come from around the world here to run,” Bloomberg said. “There's an awful lot of small businesses that depend on these people. We have to have an economy. It's a great event for New York, and I think for those who were lost, you've got to believe they would want us to have an economy and have a city go on for those that they left behind."
Despite the money the city could see from the race, critics argue that the marathon would take place less than a week after Hurricane Sandy unleashing its damage onto the area, and that hundreds of thousands of residents are still living through the consequences, which is where the attention needs to be.
And while the marathon may be on track, getting runners there will be a logistical challenge in itself. Because travel into New York has been impossible for many entrants, the NYRR is allowing registered runners the option to cancel their nonrefundable entries until this Saturday; they will also be given a guaranteed spot in next year's race. For those who are still running, several changes have been made in how runners will be transported to the start line, most notably, the use of busses over the Staten Island Ferry. In addition, several lead-up events to Sunday's marathon have been cancelled.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, do you agree or disagree with the decision to hold the marathon as planned?
Sunny skies greeted more than 47,000 runners who hit the streets for this year's New York City Marathon. Arguably one of the most popular marathons in the world, the course takes runners through each of the city's five boroughs. As a guest of Nissan — Innovation for Endurance (the Nissan Leaf is the official pace car of the marathon), I was lucky enough to watch the race from the bleachers at the finish line. The crowd's energy was infectious, and the runners were beyond inspiring. Keep reading to see what my view was like from the 26th mile!
In practically perfect weather, an estimated 47,000 runners took to the streets of New York City and all its boroughs for the ING New York City Marathon. The fast-paced races led to exciting finishes when Firehiwot Dado of Ethiopia took home the women's title and Geofrey Mutai of Kenya took home the men's.
From the get go, Mary Keitany ran what seemed a record-setting race. Keitany started out hard and strong, maintaining a one-minute lead over the rest of the pack for most of the race. Dado, however, surged ahead to cross the finish line in 2:23:15, four seconds ahead of Ethiopian Buzunesh Deba, and Keitany crossed the line third, with a time of 2:23:39.
Read more about the men's race after the break.
"It was something that was never on my radar. Then I thought, why not just do it? Why not just throw my body out there and try and see what I can do?"
— Robin Quivers on running the New York City Marathon. The radio personality, 58, told People that three years ago she could barely walk a few blocks. She then switched to a vegan diet and began exercising — 80 pounds later, and she's running in a marathon!
This weekend we shared that the winners of the 2010 New York City Marathon are Edna Kiplagat of Kenya and Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia. But what about all those celebs that were running? We were able to find 12 notables in the ING results database and posted their times below. From the looks of it, being a Bachelor really gets you to the head of the pack!
See more results when you read more
Of the 42,000 runners that hit the road for the New York City Marathon, there were two clear winners: Edna Kiplagat of Kenya took home the women's title, and Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia took home the men's.
This is Edna's first major marathon title; she won it with a time of 2:28:20. Our eyes were on American Olympian Shalane Flanagan, and she did not disappoint. Shalane crossed the finish line 20 seconds after Edna for a second place victory! An American woman has not placed in the top two since Kim Jones did it in 1990. And this was Shalane's marathon debut.
This was also 26-year-old Gebre's first appearance in the NYC Marathon; he finished the course in 2:08:14. Gebre ran alone for the last two miles of the race and had a full one minute advantage over the second place winner, Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya.
We're so proud of the winners and to all who ran! Check back tomorrow to find out how these celeb entrants did.
While my main focus will be on American Olympian Shalane Flanagan in tomorrow's New York City Marathon, I'll also be keeping an eye on the celeb entrants. (They're running for charity, after all!) From this picture, you can see that the race will be filled with reality star veterans, but take a look at the rest of the slideshow to see even more notables. Anthony Edwards, for one . . .
Source: WireImage
Clocking in under four hours, Edward Norton fared the best amongst the crowd of notables who ran in the New York City Marathon this weekend. Take a look to see how he and the the rest of the celeb pack fared in the 26.2 mile course!
Check here to see the winning times of the elite runners.
