The streets and avenues of New York trace the route for the 51st celebration of the city’s marathon on Sunday, November 6th. More than 50,000 runners from all over the world are preparing to compete on this obligatory circuit for all running culture lovers. In fact, this practice brings with it a deep, almost stoic knowledge that goes beyond healthy physical exercise. Mind and body, the Greeks profess.
It’s no easy matter, surviving 42 kilometers (26.2 miles) is a test that manifests the level of health, stamina, capacity and physical and mental strength required to complete the race and achieve a goal. And what sets the New York Marathon apart is the appeal it brings to eager runners from around the world. This year, after the pauses caused by the pandemic, it is resuming its activities at full capacity and therefore expects a festival celebrating life and health alongside the traditional race through the five districts.
The New York Marathon, a bit of history
The first edition of the New York Marathon took place in 1970, almost improvised and understood as a dress rehearsal by the presidents of the New York Road Runners Club, Fred Lebow and Vincent Chiappetta, who managed To around 130 participants for a race. along a rustic path on Park Drive, Central Park, and the filing fee was more symbolic. In the middle of that decade, the race began to grow rapidly thanks to the proposed expansion of the route to include the city’s five boroughs, proposed by Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton.
From the 1980s, the marathon was already an international event: thousands of runners from all over the world took part in the competition, motivated by the increasingly famous performances achieved by the course. So does the Norwegian marathon runner Grate Waitz, the biggest winner in her field since the New York Marathon. Of the 10 medals the Scandinavian country has to offer in the women’s category, nine have gone to Waitz almost in a row: she was the winner between 1978 and 1980; Returning to first place on the podium, she stayed for five years between 1982 and 1986. And she captured stardom one last time in 1988. Though not a goddess of Olympus, Waitz is an icon in the annals of the New York Railway. The race has gained such importance that in 2014 it was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Sport.
When does the New York Marathon 2022 start?
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On Sunday, November 6th, different contingents will gallop by category. The professional division of wheelchair racers starts at 8:00 a.m. local time, followed by the handbike sprinters and disabled athletes at 8:20 a.m.
The women’s professional category opens at 8:40 a.m. and 35 minutes later, at 9:05 a.m., the men’s category begins. New waves of general category entrants start every 35 minutes starting at 9:10 am. The timetables for the general public then start at 9:10 am, 9:45 am, 10:20 am, 10:55 am and 11:30 am.
What is the route of the New York Marathon?
The 42-kilometer loop runs through the five boroughs into which the city is divided. It begins in Staten Island and continues through the streets of Brooklyn Bay Ridge, Sunset Park Slope, Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Williamsburg. Participants continue through Long Island City and Queens before crossing the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan and heading north on First Avenue over the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx.
The route reverses and repeats its passage across the island of Manhattan through the Madison Avenue Bridge to then pass through a section of Central Park where the finish line is on the south side. Neighbors and visitors can view the event alongside the fenced roads that border the route. The official site of the New York Marathon offers all followers a downloadable map.
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