I’ve often said that every city is at its best on marathon day. The bigger the city, the better the day. That’s because hundreds of thousands of citizens line the course for hours to cheer on tens of thousands of runners most of them don’t know about.
Now consider the sun glinting off the harbor and downtown skyline on a sparkling fall morning and afternoon in New York on a Sunday, as some 53,000 runners race across the Verrazano Narrows. Bridge, tag all five boroughs on your way to the finish line, and you have the secret to the perfect marathon.
Residents of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn won the medal for the loudest and longest crowd. Thank you to them and to the residents of the South Bronx who turned part of the course into a mile-long fruit stand. I’ve never seen so many free bananas and oranges, plus tons of cookies and munchkins.
The marathon is now even more complete with a star-studded roster of Olympians and other champions.
I will admit my bias. I’m a New Yorker. Sunday was my 15th New York City Marathon. And my mind kept thinking, from the overwhelming gratitude for all the support from a crowd as colorful as the city to the slowly growing pain of my quads. “Wow, there must be some serious racing ahead.”
And there it was.
I finished and caught up on the results. Sheila Chepkirui edged out defending champion Hellen Obiri in the final mile to win in 2:24:35, while Dutch star Abdi Nageye topped a loaded field that included Olympic champion and defending New York winner Tamirat Tola. 2:07:39.
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New York City Marathon Results: Nageye, Chepkirui Shock Field in Historic
It was a shame I missed the finish line (sorry, those guys are too fast for me), but I enjoyed how this race was.
Most of the marathon races were non-time trials.
Last month in Chicago, with the help of a pacer on a deadly flat course, Ruth Chevgetich broke the women’s marathon world record with a time of 2:09:56.
Men’s races on this course regularly clock in at two hours. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes the norm. Next is New York and Boston. It is a hilly, undulating course with no pacesetters. It’s all tactics, waiting for the moment to make a move or deciding to cover your rival’s attack.
It’s a race that Tola, Obiri and many other Paris Olympians entered with high hopes, despite competing on a tough course just three months ago. From here they could think their way through the course, play cat and mouse for over two hours and then decide when to go.
They didn’t have enough time to continue on Sunday. But what a pleasure it is to watch this type of racing. There are places where the limits of human achievement can be tested. The same goes for New York and Boston.
And thank the running gods.
(Photo: David Dee Delgado / AFP via Getty Images)
