The New York Marathon is definitely a race apart. On the occasion of its 50th edition, which will take place on November 7, Lionel Gendron, correspondent for RTL in the United States, who ran it, explains how this 42.195 km long distance race is not quite like the others.
Created in 1970, the New York Marathon is first and foremost a revolution. It corresponds to the democratization of “running” in the country. Because in the 1960s, very few were those running in the streets of Big Apple or around the Reservoir, the huge body of water in Central Park, where Dustin Hoffman trains in Marathon Man (1976).
In 1976, the organizers decided to take the event out of Central Park, by making it cross the five neighborhoods, the five boroughs of New York, so that the inhabitants take ownership of their city. This Sunday, 33,000 participants are expected at Staten Island, the starting point of an event that has become emblematic of America.
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>> A letter from America, a series of exceptional episodes to be found every Tuesday. A sound postcard to help us better understand this America of today, both so familiar and sometimes totally disconcerting. An RTL Originals podcast.
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