History of the ING New York City Marathon

Around the world, the word “marathon” is synonymous with New York City. Before the New York race began, marathons were modest events attended and run by a few athletes and sports fans interested in the limits of human endurance. New York Road Runners and marathon co-founder Fred Lebow changed that. Today marathons are huge media events that take over entire cities around the globe. None is as prominent or overpowering as the ING New York City Marathon, but all are modelled on it. Modern marathoning owes its start—and its world-class status—to New York.

The first New York City Marathon, though, was a humble affair. In 1970, 127 runners paid the $1 entry fee to NYRR to participate in a 26.2-mile race that looped several times within Central Park. Fifty-five runners crossed the finish line.

When Lebow redrew the course through all five New York boroughs six years later, not many could appreciate his vision. But 2,090 runners lined up at the start for the chance to run through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The expanded course attracted two-time Olympic marathon medalist Frank Shorter, along with reporters and television cameras. Thousands of spectators lined the streets and cheered the runners. By reconfiguring the course, Lebow had drawn the city together and attracted recognition around the world.

The New York City Marathon’s unique mix of athletics, neighborhood spirit, and international media attention soon attracted the world’s best runners to the annual fall race. By the late 1970s, the running boom was exploding and New York was at the center. More than 9,000 people participated in 1978 when Norwegian Grete Waitz set a women’s world marathon record, finishing in 2:32:30.

Several men’s and women’s records fell in the early years, but the New York race was soon about more than speed. When international sanctions against South African athletes were lifted in 1992, Willie Mtolo chose to run New York. He bested the field and was granted media coverage around the world. When Tegla Loroupe broke the tape at the Central Park finish in 1994, her win proved that African women were on par with the African men in their ability to run the 26.2-mile distance. She did it in New York, and the world took notice. Soon Kenyan women were invited to distance races in scores of other cities.

In 2000, NYRR added an official wheelchair division to the marathon. Now the ING New York City Marathon has grown to become one of the most competitive wheelchair marathons anywhere in the world, with more than 140 wheelchair and handcycle athletes. In addition, a wide variety of ambulatory athletes with disabilities participate.

While the marathon has always been an exercise in community spirit, with more than two million New Yorkers lining the streets to support the runners, that aspect of the race was most apparent in November 2001. Less than two months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the New York City Marathon became a race of hope and renewal for participants, spectators, and all New Yorkers, and patriotism ran high as the marathon hosted the men’s and women’s USA Marathon Championships.