What began in Central Park with a 127 runners in 1970, has today grown to an international event which includes some 30,000 runners from around the world participating in one of the world's largest and most famous running competitions.Where else? In NYC.
At Mile 17, women's and men's leaders, Paula Radcliffe
and Gomes dos Santos, go the distance as official winners.
An estimated 2 million spectators will the streets to cheer on a friend, brother, sister, mother, father, aunt or cousin - as a carnival party atmosphere takes over the city and runs for 26.2 miles from Staten Island to Manhattan for the 40th running of the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 1, 2009.
In New York, local TV coverage can be seen on NBC channel 4. Last year, the celebrity watch included actress Scarlett Johansson who was somewhere in the crowd cheering on Hollywood actor and new hubby, Ryan Reynolds.
Each year, the New York City Marathon starts on the Staten Island side of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, then proceeds through Brooklyn and Queens...crosses the Queensborough Bridge into Manhattan...makes its way up to the Bronx and then south again to Manhattan...where the finish line is located near Central Park's Tavern on the Green.
In Manhattan, First Avenue and 59th Street traditionally provides the most dramatic views as runners spill down the ramp of the Queensborough Bridge (at the 16-mile mark) to speed their way uptown. Otherwise, the best spectator viewing - and most elbow room - can be found on First Avenue between 65th and 96th Streets.
In Brooklyn, any place along Fourth Avenue, the longest Marathon stretch, comes highly recommended, and in Queens the best spots lie along 51st Street and 44th Drive from Vernon to Crescent Street. In the Bronx, try 138th Street from Alexander Avenue to Third Avenue.
On the Web, check out more detailed course descriptions with related maps, pictures, stories, history and trivia, stats and running times plus lots more on the world's biggest block party that is the New York City Marathon...
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