The New York Marathon, canceled in 2020 due to a pandemic, will take place this year, on November 7, marking its 50th edition, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Monday.The event – one of the highlights of the tourist year in New York – will be able to accommodate some 33,000 runners, or some 60% of the 53,000 participants registered in 2019, said the governor. But that figure could still change by November, he added. “This will be a historic year for the New York Marathon,” said Ted Metellus, race director for TCS, the organization responsible for the marathon. “This year’s marathon will show the strength, inspiration and determination of our great city.” For this prestigious race, where we usually register months in advance, some 16,000 participants, who were to participate in the 2020 edition and had asked to postpone their participation, should have a guaranteed place. Registrations will formally open on June 8. The announcement of the return of the marathon, which ends in Central Park after crossing famous New York bridges, comes as New York launches a major campaign in June to revive tourism. Before the pandemic, the New York Marathon, created in 1970, attracted more than 250,000 tourists each year, for an economic impact estimated at $ 415 million in 2015. The announcement of its relaunch comes as New York and the two states neighbors of New Jersey and Connecticut are due to lift most capacity restrictions this Wednesday, May 19. More than 60% of the population of New York has now received at least one dose of the anti-Covid vaccine, according to official data. Distancing instructions remain in effect, however, even if the wearing of a mask will become largely optional, including indoors, from Wednesday for people “fully vaccinated”. After being taken by surprise by the announcement last Thursday of the lifting of the obligation to wear masks indoors for people vaccinated by the federal authorities – with the notorious exception of transport – the governor indicated on Monday that New York adopted this recommendation effective Wednesday. The New York subway has also just resumed operating 24 hours a day, while it had been stopped for two hours a night for months. (Belga)
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