ING New York City Marathon 2008 by the Numbers
39th edition on Sunday, November 2, 2008
Posted Friday, 7 November, 2008
<span class="blacktext">From the NYRR</span></p>
<p class="blacktext"><b>THE RACE</b><br>
* 38,356 starters<br>
* 37,899 finishers<br>
* 66 percent of the finishers were male and 34 percent were female<br>
* 3,153 finishers from Italy, which had the highest number of non-U.S.
finishers<br>
* 3,037 finishers from Great Britain, which had the second-highest number
of non-U.S. finishers<br>
* 105 countries represented<br>
* 50 states plus Washington, D.C., represented<br>
* Over 105,000 people applied for the ING New York City Marathon 2008,
a record number of applicants<br>
* Over 15,000 international participants at the Continental Airlines International
Friendship Run on Saturday, November 1, 2008<br>
* Over 15,000 guests served at the Barilla PLUS Marathon Eve Dinner on
Saturday, November 1, 2008<br>
* Over 6,000 volunteers assisted with the operations of the ING New York
City Marathon</p>
<p class="blacktext"><b>THE PROFESSIONAL FIELD</b><br>
<i>The Champions</i><br>
* Female open race winner: Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain, 2:23:56<br>
* Male open race winner: Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, Brazil, 2:08:43<br>
* Female wheelchair race winner: Edith Hunkeler, Switzerland, 2:06:42<br>
* Male wheelchair race winner: Kurt Fearnley, Australia, 1:44:50<br>
* Female hand cycle race winner: Nicole Schefer, Netherlands, 1:46:34<br>
* Male hand cycle race winner: Arkadiusz Skrzypinski, Poland, 1:35:26</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Professional Race Highlights</i><br>
The professional women's field had six personal bests:<br>
* Kara Goucher, third, Portland, OR, 2:25:53<br>
* Katie McGregor, 10th, St. Louis Park, MN, 2:31:14<br>
* Ilsa Paulson, 15th, Flagstaff, AZ, 2:41:17<br>
* Katarina Janosikova, 18th, Astoria, NY, 2:42:57<br>
* Caroline Bierbaum, 22nd, New York, NY, 2:46:36<br>
* Abbi Gleeson, 28th, New York, NY, 2:50:22</p>
<p class="blacktext">The professional men's field had five personal bests:<br>
* Josh Rohatinsky, seventh, Portland, OR, 2:14:23<br>
* Bolota Asmerom, 10th, San Francisco, CA, 2:16:37<br>
* Boaz Cheboiywo, 19th, Kenya, 2:21:40<br>
* Deresse Deniboba, 20th, Ethiopia, 2:21:54<br>
* Edvard Gapak, 23rd, Ukraine, 2:22:37</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Historical Moments</i><br>
* <b>Kara Goucher</b> set a U.S. debut record of 2:25:53, surpassing Deena Kastor's
mark from the 2001 New York City Marathon (2:26:58). She also became the
third-fastest American woman ever behind <b>Deena Kastor</b> (2:19:36) and <b>Joan
Benoit Samuelson</b> (2:21:21). She is the first American woman to reach the
podium in New York since <b>Anne Marie Letko</b> in 1994.<br>
* <b>Ludmila Petrova</b>, 40, set a new world masters record of 2:25:43, besting
<b>Priscilla Welch</b>'s 2:26:51 set in London in 1987.<br>
* <b>Paula Radcliffe</b> became only the second woman besides <b>Grete Waitz</b> to
win New York at least three times.<br>
* Even with one of the strongest men's fields ever in New York, four U.S.
men finished in the top 10, the most since five did so in 1982. They were
<b>Abdi Abdirahman</b> (sixth), <b>Josh Rohatinsky</b> (seventh), <b>Jason Lehmkuhle</b> (eighth),
and <b>Bolota Asmerom</b> (10th).</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Athlete Payments</i><br>
* Prize money and time bonuses totaled $814,300, an increase from $809,300 in 2007.</p>
<p class="blacktext"><b>BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NUMBERS</b><br>
<i>ING New York City Marathon Local Broadcast</i><br>
* The ING NYC Marathon set the single-day record for the most streams
live and on-demand any sport, most page views, and most visits on NBCSports.com
and UniversalSports.com.<br>
* We offered the marathon online to a worldwide audience. Websites in
Japan, New Zealand, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, and France
promoted the event.</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Merchandise Sales</i><br>
* All merchandise sales, including the Expo, course, and Marathon Monday,
increased significantly from 2007.</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Charity</i><br>
* New York Road Runners' official charity program included 37 charities
and over 5,000 runners. Collectively, as of race day, they raised more
than $18.2 million.<br>
* New York Road Runners Foundation's Team for Kids charity raised over
$3.67 million for youth health and fitness programs in under-served New
York City public schools.<br>
* 1,233 runners ran as a part of Team for Kids.<br>
* Memorial Sloan Kettering's Fred's Team raised over $3.25 million for
pediatric cancer.<br>
* Team Continuum raised over $1.33 million.</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Toyota Pick and Drive Promotion</i><br>
* 8,067 submissions were received for the Pick and Drive promotion from
Oct. 19 - Nov. 1.<br>
* <b>Brad White</b> of North Carolina was the only person to guess the correct
top 3 combination for the women.<br>
* Three people guessed the correct top 3 combination for the men, and
winner <b>Michael McAndrews</b> of Illinois was selected by a random drawing
among the correct submissions.</p>
<p class="blacktext"><b>SPECIAL INTEREST FINISHERS</b><br>
87: age of Peter Harangozo, the oldest male finisher, in 8:00:39<br>
83: age of Yolande Marois, the oldest female finisher, in 7:48:46</p>
<p class="blacktext">* <b>Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge</b>: Susan Moore (Queens),
3:24:26</p>
<p class="blacktext">* <b>Alberto Salazar Award</b> (top American finishers):<br>
Male: Abdi Abdirahman, 2:14:17<br>
Female: Kara Goucher, 2:25:53</p>
<p class="blacktext">* <b>Lewis Rudin Award </b>(top Team for Kids fundraisers):<br>
Male: Drew Swiss, 4:41:00, New York<br>
Female: Nadia Titarchuk, 4:31:01, New York</p>
<p class="blacktext">* <b>Avis Spirit Award</b> winners:<br>
Male: Yannick Benjamin, 5:19:56, New York<br>
Female: Alyssa Johnson, 7:27:12, California</p>
<p class="blacktext"><i>Runners of Note</i><br>
* Brandi Chastain (former U.S. professional soccer player): 4:11:08<br>
* Rod Dixon (winner, 1983 NYC Marathon): 3:38:15<br>
* City Council Member Robert Jackson: 4:15:35<br>
* Steve Jones (winner, 1988 NYC Marathon): 4:50:35<br>
* Deputy Commissioner George Grasso (NYPD Commissioner): 4:45:25<br>
* Beth Ostrosky (wife of Howard Stern): 4:15:39<br>
* Zola (Budd) Pieterse (former world-class track runner): 2:59:53<br>
* Ryan Reynolds (Canadian actor): 3:50:22<br>
* Stephen Roche (winner, 1987 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia): 4:21:09<br>
* Kerri Strug (former U.S. gymnast and 1996 Olympic gold medalist): 3:56:06<br>
* Geoff Thomas (former English professional soccer player): 4:24:33</p>
<p class="blacktext">For more race information, go to: <a href="http://www.INGnycmarathon.org">INGnycmarathon.org</a>
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