New York Marathon 2021: To 'eat' the Big Apple | Mark
Every first Sunday of November, the strides on the asphalt of New York are impregnated with a unique magnetism. There is no marathon like the one in the Big Apple. That's what everyone who has ever run through the streets of the metropolis says. It is not the oldest -the one in Boston was born in 1897- nor the one with the best world records -recorded on flatter routes, such as those in London or Berlin-, but the aura that surrounds this event, which this Sunday fulfills its The 50th edition -it could not be held in 2012 due to the consequences of Hurricane Sandy-, has made it the most emblematic and numerous in the world.
Many things have changed since that first race in 1970 in which only 127 athletes participated - only one woman, Nina Kuscsiken - in four laps around a then quite degraded Central Park. Its turning point came in 1976 when George Spitz, an official and runner, proposed a five-borough marathon. He sold the project to the mayor as a way to help revive the city, hit by numerous economic problems and rising crime at the time.
From that moment on, the New York marathon became one of the most inclusive elements for the city, capable of uniting the local population and this in turn with thousands of foreigners who reserve the first Sunday of November to experience the thrill of running in the Big Apple.
This unique character allowed the New York marathon to receive the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports in 2014, the second event to do so after the Tour de France. Now, in 2021, it resumes its face-to-face format after the last edition was only played virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Such is the aura given off by the New York Marathon that no elite athlete who has contested the distance wants to retire without having run there. That is why every year there are debuts in the skyscraper race. This time it is the turn, among others, of Kenenisa Bekele, in the male category, or Peres Jepchirchir, in the female category.
The Ethiopian, Olympic champion of 5,000 and 10,000 meters and holder of the second best mark in marathon history -two seconds from Kipchoge's universal record, with 2:01:41-, will run for the first time in New York, just 40 days later to do it in Berlin, where he finished third. That adds further uncertainty to his performance in the Big Apple.
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However, the Ethiopian assures that he is in great form. "I will make a good result. Of course, I will be in a good position... After Berlin, I recovered well," Bekele assured at the official press conference.
Because for Bekele it is also a dream to race in the Big Apple. "New York is fantastic. It's a famous city. Being here is fantastic. I dreamed of being in the New York Marathon and it's going to come true," added the marathoner.
It will also be the debut, but from a distance, of Kibiwott Kandie, the half marathon world record holder (57:32), who will have one of the favorites as rivals, despite the fact that he starts with a worse record than Bekele: the Dutchman Abdi Nageeye , Olympic runner-up in Sapporo last summer.
In the women's race, the list of athletes is impressive, with two Olympic medalists: Peres Jepchirchir, gold in Sapporo, and Molly Seidel, bronze in the same competition. The Kenyan, with a personal best of 2:17:16, makes her debut in New York and wants to make history and become the first Olympic champion to win the Big Apple marathon. She will have rivals like the American, who accompanied her on the Olympic podium, or Helalia Johannes and Abel Yeshaneh, among others.
"The course is not easy, but I will do my best," said Jepchirchir. "I know we have strong athletes here."
All of them will seek this Sunday to eat the Big Apple, that is, to succeed within the framework of an incomparable edition of the New York marathon: the 50th anniversary, which also coincides with the return of the event after the pandemic. Also the popular runners, those who have made this race great, want to taste that juice and give their particular bite to those 42.195 kilometers, perhaps the most emblematic in the world. Because running in New York... 'is different'.
