The New York City Marathon started in 1970 and has grown to the biggest and most popular marathon in the world, which attracts an enormous amount of athletes and spectators.
This article will list interesting facts and figures about the New York City Marathon.
New York City Marathon – Interesting Facts
Only 127 people ran the first NYC Marathon in 1970 and only 55 finished the marathon. Gary Muhrcke from the United States won the race in a time of 2:31:38.
The 1970 marathon attracted a few hundred spectators. The event now attracts two million people.
The race course was changed in 1976, which was the first year that the New York City Marathon went through NYC’s five boroughs: Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Manhattan.
Around 48,000 men and women run the NYC marathon each year. Approximately 12,000 volunteers support the event, which means 1 volunteer for every 4 runners.
The oldest entrant to the biggest marathon in the world was 96 years old.
61% of the athletes are men, 39% women. Most people running the NYC Marathon are aged between 30- and 50-years old (65%). 13% of the runners is younger than 30% and 21% is over 50.
Most foreign athletes come from France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and The Netherlands.
Around the track you will find approximately 2,400 portable toilets, more than 150,000 bottles of water and 6,400 pounds of bananas will be provided.
The 2012 edition of the New York Marathon was cancelled because of the damage that hurricane Sandy had caused.
Margaret Okayo from Kenya holds the female runner record: 2:22:31. The male runner record is 2:05:06 by Geoffrey Mutai, also from Kenya.
Female athlete Grete Waitz from Norway won 9 editions of the NYC marathon, Bill Rodgers from the United States of America won 4 editions.
The male and female champions of the New York City Marathon win $100,000 each.
The safety of runners and spectators is also an important focus area for the organizing committee. Around $1,000,000 is spent on security.
Starting in 2014, the NYC marathon will be known as the TCS New York City Marathon. Until 2014 it was known as the ING New York City Marathon.
(Source: ESPN, Infostrada, Etsy)
