Hug and Debrunner take series titles in New York

Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug swept to AbbottWMM Series XV glory in New York City as the Swiss pair conquered the five boroughs.
 
Hug powered to his sixth win in as many Majors at the TCS New York City Marathon this year to complete a full house, becoming the first man to achieve the feat in series history.
 
The Silver Bullet had the American Daniel Romanchuk for company as they pushed through Brooklyn in the early stages of the contest, but Hug then pressed down on the gas pedal to open a significant gap to Romanchuk.
 
At halfway, Hug was more than two minutes clear of his rival, and by the finish that advantage had extended to 4:38.
 
Jetze Plat was third, which also secured him third in the final Series XV standings behind Romanchuk.
 
It has been a stunning year for Hug, who also set five course records in the series, only missing his own mark in New York by three seconds.
 
Debrunner did manage to plunder the extra $50,000 for the course record, taking it from Susannah Scaroni with 1:39:32.

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 She is the first woman to break 1:40 in the Big Apple, and charged up the AbbottWMM leaderboard by winning Berlin, Chicago and New York in succession to take the series crown.
 
Manuela Schär was second, over eight minutes back, with Susannah Scaroni behind her to complete the final top three in the women’s wheelchair series.
 
Three different women have now won the last three series titles. Debrunner began the day three points behind Schär, but was away from the field by the time she left the Verrazzano Bridge.
 
When she took the eight bonus points as the first racer through the 20km mark, she moved into first place in the standings, and stormed to a huge course record to tie a bow on an incredible six weeks.