New York Marathon Thrills, Stuns and Frustrates Some

By Angela Chen and Sherisse Pham

Meb Keflezighi tore past the finish line at the New York City Marathon on Sunday and ended the 27-year drought of American winners of the storied five-borough race. The last time an American won the race was in 1982, when Alberto Salazar finished first in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

Keflezighi gestured to the crowd to cheer louder right before he crossed the finish line with a new personal best of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 14 seconds. He then crossed himself and did a single push up. The spectators chanted “U-S-A “and clanged cowbells as he approached the finish line.

“I’m thrilled to be able to win my first marathon ever at the place where I started,” Keflezighi said at the post-race press conference. “And the personal best, and wearing that U.S.A jersey, it just can’t get any better.”

Keflezighi's unexpected victory capped a day of dramatic finishes at the New York marathon. But it also had some hiccups. When officials closed the corral 15 minutes earlier than announced, several runners had to scramble to the start. Roughly 22 miles away, some Bronx businesses expressed frustration over what they said was a serious loss of business due to a change in the race path.

Still, the drama in the men's and women's races carried the day.

The Eritrean-born Olympic silver medalist broke away from Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot in the last leg of the race, running 100 yards ahead of the Kenyan in the final mile. Cheruiyot finished second, crossing the finish line about half a minute after Keflezighi.

Keflezighi also beat Ryan Hall, a 27-year-old California native, who had been a favorite to win. Hall came in fourth.

In the women’s race, all eyes and cameras were trained on reigning champion Paula Radcliffe of Britain, but the stunner in the race ended up being Derartu Tulu, 37, from Ethiopia, whose final sprint catapulted her to first place, with a finishing time of 2 hours, 28 minutes, 52 seconds.

“I did not come here and expect to win, but I did expect to be a strong competitor,” Tulu said in a post-race press conference. “And I’m happy to win.”

Tulu is the first Ethiopian woman to nab the city’s laurel crown, with this victory being only the second in her 16-year running career. Her last win was in 2001 at the London Marathon.

Ludmilla Petrova of Russia was the runner-up and Christelle Daunay of France crossed the line third. Radcliffe finished fourth at 2 hours, 29 minutes, 27 seconds.

Out of some 42,000 runners, about 14,000 are female—triple the number who raced 20 years ago.

Sunday, the 40^th year of the New York marathon, was the largest to date. More than 100,000 people applied to run, and less than half made the cut. Thousands of volunteers and workers were recruited to help, but despite all the manpower, not everything went off without a hitch.

Race officials closed off the starting corral at 9:05 a.m. but told participants the corral would be open until 9:20 a.m. As competitors realized the error, they scrambled to get in place, shoving volunteers out of the way and ducking under the nylon barriers to get in on time.

“They didn't tell any of us the right time, and now we can't even get in,” said Michael James, 30, a local runner. “I'm getting in there whether they let me or not, I don't care who I push to get in.”

The marathon showcased a spirited and diverse collection of runners, some of whom ran for different causes, others to prove something to themselves, and some simply for the thrill of experiencing the course.

Hendrick Ruffel, 43, is a blind runner who traveled from Stockholm, Sweden to run through the Big Apple’s five boroughs.

“The crowd was fantastic,” he said. “People were cheering in all the routes, it was nice.”

Ruffel ended with a personal best of 2 hours, 53 minutes, 10 seconds.

Adrienne Price and Dawn Jordon cheered on weary runners from mile 16.

“I wanted to do this specific mile because they’re getting tired, and I want to tell them how fabulous they look cause we ran [the marathon] in San Diego and those were the people that made the difference,’’ Price said.

Darlene Johnson, 46, of Harlem said she was drawn to the excitement and diversity of the runners who came from several countries to race.

“It has been a long time since an American won, and of course I would love to see an American win,” she said. “It's just amazing people can do this. I don’t care where they are from.”

Also running in the race was the mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat, 49, whose past marathons include races in Paris and Tiberia. Running his first marathon as mayor, he finished with a time of 4 hours, 42 minutes.

“You don’t feel how tired you are once you finish,” said Barkat. “I started to put gas on the pedal on Fifth Avenue.”

Other runners included four firemen from Ladder Company 105 in Brooklyn. Fellow firefighters came out and showed their support from two separate fire trucks parked along the marathon route on Fourth Avenue.

Not everyone was joining in the merriment. In the Bronx, a change in the marathon route upset some business owners who said they saw a serious loss of business due to the race.

Traditionally runners in the New York City Marathon cross the Willis Bridge, toe dip briefly through Mott Haven, and quickly exit over the Madison Avenue Bridge. This year the course was altered due to road changes throughout the boroughs, adding an extra one-third mile to the Bronx portion of the course. Rather than running straight on 138th Street, marathoners turned right on Morris Avenue, and headed north for two blocks before looping back down Rider Avenue to 138th Street.

This change veered the course around Kanela Restaurant & Bar, with barricades and a bandstand making it difficult for spectators to cross over to, or even notice, the restaurant at 2537 3^rd Ave. Owner Rafael Rozon, who said he had a crowded dining room last year when his restaurant was along the course, said he lost many customers as a result of the route change.

"It was a little change, but it made a big difference,” said Rozon said. “They ruined everything."

Another business, Western Beef, had to shut down its parking lot because the roads running by the store were closed for the race. Owner Lynus Sharper said that because many of his customers drive to the store, the place was almost empty.

“We lost a lot of business today, a lot of business,” said Sharper. “And is there compensation from the marathon board? No.”

To help deal with the tens of thousands of runners, marathon organizers count on many people to work without pay.

The United Parcel Service, for example provides trucks every year to shuttle runners’ bags and belongings from the starting point in Staten Island to the finish line in Central Park.

Doug Weickert, the UPS coordinator for the New York City Marathon, said it is difficult to find volunteers to man the trucks in the busy season before Christmas.

Weickert himself has been volunteering for 13 years and said he still enjoys being a part of the frenzy. On marathon day, he said packages loaded in the trucks start vibrating as family members and friends call to find out the latest from the runners.

“As the afternoon goes on cell phones start ringing like mad, it can be quite irritating,” he said. “But in the end it’s really fun. I love doing this.”

Additional reporting from Solomon Adebayo, Eno Alfred, Leslie Adkins, Elizabeth Bridges, Leslie Hart, Alexandra King, Christopher Livesay, Saskya Vandoorne, Rania Zabaneh.