The meager beginnings of New York City's now-international event saw a hundred and twenty-seven runners invest one dollar for entry into a race that circled Central Park as many times as it took to reach 26.2 miles. Only 55 entrants actually stepped over the finish line in this 1970 marathon, which increased significantly to more than 22 thousand by 1996, yet it quietly set a precedent that expanded in subsequent years. The progressively increasing number of women runners over the recent past has closed the gender gap quite considerably where performance is concerned. With nearly 40,000 participants in the 2010 race and an entry fee of $171, it is fair to say that four decades later, the New York City Marathon continues its exponential growth and maintains its distinguished leader status among all other global marathons.
The many logistical tasks are not only to benefit of the tens of thousands of participating runners but also the millions of spectators who must have access to a lot of the same services. Just making sure these massive crowds can find their way along the 26-mile route is enough of a challenge, but they also need clear access to various race-related services and local merchants. Road and bridge closures create the need for additional signage to guide people through and around the logistical changes.
Directional signs must be formatted in both miles and kilometers;106 clocks are placed at these points, as well. The race begins with color-coded signs to differentiate among the staggered runners, with the first eight miles sporting orange, green and blue signage that converges at mile 8. Video captures the activity at various checkpoints along the route.
The expansive nature of New York's famous marathon is such that it snakes through five boroughs -- Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan -- with every inch of that course effectively mapped and monitored by police, paramedics, volunteers so the international runners and supportive fans alike are protected from such potential concerns as weather-related problems, inappropriate crowd behavior and the general confusion that can easily arise at such a competition. According to event developer Peter Ciaccia of New York Road Runners, the steps necessary to organize this marathon are along the same lines as planning the Olympics. But it was not always of such epic proportion as illustrated from the following past-versus-present profile:
REGISTRATION - THEN: Available race day; NOW: A lottery is held in June (5,000 get in through charity programs)
SPECTATORS - THEN: 100+; NOW: 2,000,000+
VOLUNTEERS - THEN: 30; NOW: 6,000+
WINNINGS - THEN: Bowling trophies were recycled and presented to winners; NOW: $600,000 total prize purse
COUNTRIES REPRESENTED - THEN: 1 (United States); NOW: 105
The initial challenge is to make sure all the runners reach Staten Island's Fort Wadsworth starting line, an objective that involves 12 ferries and 500 buses to move contestants from myriad outlying areas. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is quickly cleared once the final contestant has begun the race, a task that must take no longer than one hour to accomplish. At the other end of the race, over 70 UPS vehicles will meet the runners with their personal effects as they reach the finish line, where they will also be gifted with one of 52,000 food bags and medals, as well as one of 60,000 heat sheets.
All in all, some 1,200 vehicles from buses that retrieve slow pacers or race dropouts to convoys that keep the course clean as the runners advance are used in one capacity or another over the span of the race. Once the sweep buses have moved through a given area, those streets are once again open for normal motor vehicle use.
Food and hydration are important aspects for runner and spectator alike as both groups require them throughout the several-hour race. For the runners, there are checkpoint stations with over 40,000 PowerBars, nearly 100,000 Poland Spring bottled water and more than 500 pounds of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee beans that will transform into 45,000 cups of caffeinated energy. Spectators can partake of almost 63,000 gallons of water or half that amount of Lemon-lime Gatorade Endurance Formula sports drink at one of the two dozen fluid stations in what is now recyclable paper cups, a technological improvement from previous years whereby the more than 2,000,000 containers were loaded into the landfill.
An entire hydration station is set up at mile 17 where along with water, soaked sponges can be used to cool down a heated body. Mile 18 is the designated checkpoint where sixty thousand packets of PowerBar Gel are available for the taking, with bananas waiting at miles 20-23. When Mother Nature strikes, people are not far from one of the nearly seventeen hundred portable toilets that dot the entire route.
Given the nature of how a marathon operates, there can be long stretches of time when spectators have nothing to watch because runner activity becomes intermittent. More than 130 musical bands help to fill that void and keep the masses entertained as they are positioned at various spots along the route. A last surge of inspiration is often needed for those runners approaching the final two-tenths of a mile, so the live entertainment at Columbus Circle stage is particularly vital in providing that incentive to finish.
Directional signs must be formatted in both miles and kilometers;106 clocks are placed at these points, as well. The race begins with color-coded signs to differentiate among the staggered runners, with the first eight miles sporting orange, green and blue signage that converges at mile 8. Video captures the activity at various checkpoints along the route.
The expansive nature of New York's famous marathon is such that it snakes through five boroughs -- Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan -- with every inch of that course effectively mapped and monitored by police, paramedics, volunteers so the international runners and supportive fans alike are protected from such potential concerns as weather-related problems, inappropriate crowd behavior and the general confusion that can easily arise at such a competition. According to event developer Peter Ciaccia of New York Road Runners, the steps necessary to organize this marathon are along the same lines as planning the Olympics. But it was not always of such epic proportion as illustrated from the following past-versus-present profile:
REGISTRATION - THEN: Available race day; NOW: A lottery is held in June (5,000 get in through charity programs)
SPECTATORS - THEN: 100+; NOW: 2,000,000+
VOLUNTEERS - THEN: 30; NOW: 6,000+
WINNINGS - THEN: Bowling trophies were recycled and presented to winners; NOW: $600,000 total prize purse
COUNTRIES REPRESENTED - THEN: 1 (United States); NOW: 105
The initial challenge is to make sure all the runners reach Staten Island's Fort Wadsworth starting line, an objective that involves 12 ferries and 500 buses to move contestants from myriad outlying areas. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is quickly cleared once the final contestant has begun the race, a task that must take no longer than one hour to accomplish. At the other end of the race, over 70 UPS vehicles will meet the runners with their personal effects as they reach the finish line, where they will also be gifted with one of 52,000 food bags and medals, as well as one of 60,000 heat sheets.
All in all, some 1,200 vehicles from buses that retrieve slow pacers or race dropouts to convoys that keep the course clean as the runners advance are used in one capacity or another over the span of the race. Once the sweep buses have moved through a given area, those streets are once again open for normal motor vehicle use.
Food and hydration are important aspects for runner and spectator alike as both groups require them throughout the several-hour race. For the runners, there are checkpoint stations with over 40,000 PowerBars, nearly 100,000 Poland Spring bottled water and more than 500 pounds of Dunkin' Donuts Coffee beans that will transform into 45,000 cups of caffeinated energy. Spectators can partake of almost 63,000 gallons of water or half that amount of Lemon-lime Gatorade Endurance Formula sports drink at one of the two dozen fluid stations in what is now recyclable paper cups, a technological improvement from previous years whereby the more than 2,000,000 containers were loaded into the landfill.
Given the nature of how a marathon operates, there can be long stretches of time when spectators have nothing to watch because runner activity becomes intermittent. More than 130 musical bands help to fill that void and keep the masses entertained as they are positioned at various spots along the route. A last surge of inspiration is often needed for those runners approaching the final two-tenths of a mile, so the live entertainment at Columbus Circle stage is particularly vital in providing that incentive to finish.
Then there is the consideration of what spectators leave behind after the race, not the least of which includes literally tons of sleeping bags, sweats and other cold-weather clothing that many of the more than 6,000 volunteers retrieve to be cleaned and donated. The mostly plastic and cardboard garbage created by the 2+ million spectators equates to approximately 11 tons that are dispersed among the 24 fluid stations.
Of the thousands of people who work behind the scenes, red-vested medical personnel are considered highly valuable volunteers for both participants and spectators alike since there are incidents that occur in both groups necessitating medical attention. Meeting the needs of such as huge number of people requires no fewer than 38 stations with more than 11,000 pounds of ice, nearly 14,000 bandages, just over 57,000 salt packets and a few hundred Vaseline containers. Two and a half dozen defibrillators are also on hand if someone has a heart problem, while others can repose on one of the more than 400 cots if they are overtaken by the sun or other physical ailment.
Of the thousands of people who work behind the scenes, red-vested medical personnel are considered highly valuable volunteers for both participants and spectators alike since there are incidents that occur in both groups necessitating medical attention. Meeting the needs of such as huge number of people requires no fewer than 38 stations with more than 11,000 pounds of ice, nearly 14,000 bandages, just over 57,000 salt packets and a few hundred Vaseline containers. Two and a half dozen defibrillators are also on hand if someone has a heart problem, while others can repose on one of the more than 400 cots if they are overtaken by the sun or other physical ailment.
Other interesting logistic statistics include issuing 2,500 media credentials to cover the event; approximately half a million pictures are shot by 80 photographers; and a pre-marathon dinner sponsored by Barilla where 15,000 runners and their guests consume nearly 7,000 pounds of pasta and 1,800 pounds of salad, 15,000 apples and 18,000 cans of light beer.
Aerial photo by Vernon T. Bludgeon
Water station photo by Nishanth Gopinathan
Aerial photo by Vernon T. Bludgeon
Water station photo by Nishanth Gopinathan
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