Status: 07.11.2021 05:08
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When the first marathon took place in New York 50 years ago, a lot was different: a good 100 runners circled Central Park and earned ridicule for their panties. Despite the pandemic, 30,000 athletes are expected today.
By Peter Mücke, ARD-Studio New York
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The biggest marathon in the world started with an obsession. In the 1960s, New York running enthusiasts met in the Bronx. But at some point it became too dangerous there – due to traffic and young people throwing stones from bridges.
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“Then I discovered Central Park. It was 1969,” reports Fred Lebow, the “father” of the New York City Marathon. “One Sunday I ran around the water reservoir. And that’s when the idea occurred to me: There are no cars here at the weekend. Why don’t we do a marathon in Central Park?”
But before that happened, Lebow had to do a lot of convincing. For example with Henry Stern, who was responsible for the parks in the city administration. “Central Park was not made for running, but for horses and carriages,” says Stern. “The idea that people walk around with little more than underwear was unimaginable. You couldn’t even leave the house like that!”
“Pretty tasteless cups”
Nevertheless, the time had come on September 13, 1970: The first New York Marathon led four laps through Central Park. “The whole event didn’t cost more than $ 1,000,” says Lebow. “I bought 15 cheap watches and pretty tasteless trophies. I had no idea how to run a marathon.”
127 runners started – including just one woman. There were practically no spectators. 55 runners crossed the finish line. The fastest: New York firefighter Gary Muhrcke in hand-stopped 2 hours, 31 minutes and 39 seconds. “We just went to Central Park and paid the entry fee,” says Muhrcke. “A dollar or 50 cents. At the finish I got the trophy and Fred said: Give it back to me, I’ll need it for someone else.”
A photo from 1973: The marathon was still taking place in Central Park at the time.
Image: imago images / PCN Photography
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1976 for the first time through the whole city
In the following years, more and more runners registered, but the New York Marathon initially remained a small event in Central Park. Until Fred Lebow came up with an obsession: for the 200th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence in 1976, the race should go through the whole city.
“Gary Muhrcke, the winner of the first marathon, came up to me and said: This is going to be a disaster! How can you send a field of runners with women and men through such terrible parts of town as Bedford-Stuyvesant or Harlem?” Says Lebow. “I tried not to let it show, but I was also very nervous.”
A phone booth was circled in the Bronx
Norb Sander, the 1974 winner still has to laugh today when he thinks back to the time: “People thought they went crazy! A marathon through all five boroughs of the city. It’s dangerous and can’t work!”
Indeed, there were threats from gangs who claimed the streets for themselves – which is why in the first few years the route only led around a telephone booth in the Bronx, so that at least symbolically all five metropolitan areas were covered.
This time only 30,000 runners are allowed
On October 24, 1976, the NBC reporter was relieved to hear: “Nobody was mugged, nobody was hit by a taxi. A great success for New York.” Til today. The marathon had to be canceled twice: in 2012 because of the consequences of Hurricane Sandy, last year because of the corona pandemic. That is also the reason why the 50th New York City Marathon is taking place in a slimmed-down form this year. Only a good 30,000 runners are allowed – otherwise it was more than 50,000 recently.
The 67-year-old Larry Trachtenberg, who participated in the very first New York Marathon in 1970, will be at the start again: “All the years that I’ve seen the marathon on TV, I’ve always said to myself: I have to go there at some point run along again, “he says. “I was really homesick. I always had the dream of coming back.”
26.2 Mile Hell and Back – Slimmed-down 50th Anniversary Marathon starts in New York
Peter Mücke, ARD New York, November 6th, 2021 5:23 pm
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