NYC MarathonThe New York Marathon is one of the world’s most well known road races and one that attracts more than 100,000 applicants, 2 million spectators and a televised global audience of 315 million.

I will take this early opportunity to wish any of my readers who are taking part this year all the very best of luck especially to anyone who may be trying barefoot running after reading my last post!

It doesn’t matter whether you are a hardened athlete or simply running to raise funds for your chosen charity..embrace the day and enjoy every single stride!

For those of you who are curious about the history of the New York Marathon here are a few snippets of information that you may find interesting:

A Brief History of the NYC Marathon

The first New York marathon was held in 1970 and attracted a very modest 127 runners of which only 55 finished, the vast majority of the course was in central New York, specifically Central Park!

Six years later, NYC Marathon co-founder Fred Lebow redrew the course to run through all the boroughs of New York. Lebow’s intention was to increase interest and attention in the marathon, he succeeded, 2090 runners started the race including double Olympic marathon medalist Frank Shorter. The media were also gaining interest in the race and it was covered by reporters and television for the first time.

In 1978, when running was starting to become an increasingly popular activity, participation in the New York Marathon had increased to more than 9,000 and it also produced it’s first world record when the Norwegian athlete Grete Waitz set a women’s marathon world record, when she finished in 2:32:30.

Participation increased and records were consistently broken over the years.

In 2000 the NYC Marathon added an official wheelchair division and is now one of the world’s most competitive marathons for wheelchair bound competitors.

In the 2010 marathon a new record was achieved…47,000….the most ever finishers.

Is the 2011 ING NYC Marathon going to beat that?

I sincerely hope so…and I am also confident that the NYC Marathon will continue to grow in reputation and size and will continue to be the world leader in city marathon events for a long time to come.

And by the way…should shin splints hinder your NYC Marathon performance, you can always come back and visit to brush up on how you can get rid of shin splints for good!

Good luck to all!

Tagged with: ING NYC Marathon • New York Marathon • NY Marathon • NYC Marathon

Filed under: NYC Marathon

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