NYC Marathon closest and biggest in history

NEW YORK: The New York City Marathon winners Paul Tergat and Jelena Prokopcuka rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, appeared on the David Letterman late-night television talk show and planned to return next year to defend their titles.

The largest marathon in the world boasted the closest men’s finish and had a record $873,500 (£738,750) in prize money. The final count showed 36,894 finishers, 132 more than last year’s record. “This is a wonderful way to wrap up the year,” Tergat said. “Yesterday was a dramatic, painful experience.”

Latvia’s Prokopcuka won in 2:24:41, some 14 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei. Last year marked the closest women’s finish, when England’s Paula Radcliffe nipped Chepkemei by 4 seconds. Prokopcuka earned a record $160,000 (£135,320) in prize money and time bonuses, while Tergat won $125,000 (£105,720).
The oldest finishers were 85-year-old Jonathan Mendez (8:03:03) and 81-year-old Vivian Lowery (8:09:26.), both of New York. The last official finisher was 24-year-old Nihal Erkan of Turkey, one of the disabled athletes who started the race at 8 am and finished 10 hours later.

Also, a special shout out and congratulations to my friend Abram Falek for completing the race! You go! You're my personal hero!

Marathon results

That's So New York