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ING New York City Marathon 2013/2014
The New York City Marathon is the place to be if you want to be part of
something big. First of all, it’s New York City – and you get to see a lot of it
as the course passes through all five boroughs and shows off some fabulous
skyline views along the way. Moreover, the New York City Marathon is the largest
of all marathons in the world. And of course, this legendary race is an
indispensable part of the World Marathon Majors series. Click here to read more
about the series.
Apart from the New York Marathon, the World Marathon Majors (WMM) consists of
city marathons in Chicago, Boston, Berlin and London, and of the World
Championships and Olympic Games marathons. Elite runners in these races earn
points based on their placing, and when winners of the WMM are found, the male
and female winner split a prize of one million dollars between them. The first
time this happened was after the NYC Marathon 2007, which concluded the very
first WMM competition. The happy winners were Robert K. Cheruiyot (Kenya) and
Gete Wami (Ethiopia). Cheruiyot ran the other participating races so well that
he didn't even have to run New York in order to nail the WMM prize.
The first New York Marathon in 1970, looped through Central Park several times,
and out of 127 entrants, 55 crossed the finish line. Since then, the race has
grown massively, and with its unique course and energetic atmosphere, it
attracts more than 100,000 applicants every year. Most entrants are selected in
a lottery draw. However, runners are guaranteed entry if they meet certain
qualifying times, have been denied access in the last three years or register
through a charity. In 2010, 45,103 runners finished the race.
ING New York City Marathon is renowned for its enthusiastic and extremely large
crowds of spectators. Despite the enormity of the city, the first Sunday of
November is always ‘Marathon Sunday’, and two million New Yorkers take to the
streets to cheer and support the runners. Crowds line the whole course from the
start on Staten Island, over Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and into Brooklyn and
Queens. Then the route goes over Queensboro Bridge for a roundtrip on Manhattan
and a short stop in the Bronx before reaching the finish outside the famous
restaurant Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Along the way, runners
experience the cultural diversity of New York’s neighbourhoods and run across
five New York bridges.
The marathon course makes a great sightseeing tour and runs through parts of the
city that many tourists would otherwise not see. The bridges on the route
provide superb views but also add some challenging inclines to the course. The
Verrazano marks the highest point with just over 80m/250ft, but this bridge is
right at the beginning, when energy is still intact and the field is probably
too crowded to pick up speed anyway. Queensboro Bridge after 24km is another
steep climb and the final hilly 4-5km to the finish line in Central Park can be
quite a challenge.
The next New York City Marathon will take place on Sunday
4 November 2013. The 2012 edition was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy that wreaked havoc on the city. Read
more about registration, guaranteed entry and other necessities
here.
ING New York City Marathon Course
In order to familiarise yourself with the ING New York City Marathon course and
plan your victory over the five bridges, please refer to the official website by following the link above.
More info on next page:
New York City Marathon Results, Photos and Videos, 2013/2014