The New York Road Runners Marathon

More than 44,000 participants took to the streets in the New York Marathon, as visitors and city residents cheered them on from the sidelines for the 26.2-mile race. The participants started in Staten Island and made their way through Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx, finally finishing in Central Park back in Manhattan.The event attracts more than 100,000 registrants per year.

The Marathon is organized by New York Road Runners. Most of the entrants are chosen through a  lottery while the rest are from automatic nominations given to different running clubs who are members of the New York Road Runners (NYRR).Edison Pena, one of the Chilean miners that was trapped 2,300 feet underground for 69 days was one of this years participants.

Pena became known as “the runner” for his routine of running six to seven miles through the tunnels while singing Elvis Presley songs everyday while trapped.Edison’s goal was  to finish the marathon in six hours, he beat his goal despite suffering from knee pain and was welcomed by Presley music at the finish line.

The winner of this year’s Marathon took home $130,000, while the second placed received $65,000 and third place winners  $45,000. Haile Gebrselassie,The men’s favorite for first place, and the world record holder had to drop out of the race with a knee injury at the sixteenth mile, he also announced his retirement from the sport.The top male finishers were Gebre Gebremariam from Ethiopia was the winner who finished first at 2:08:14. followed by Emmanuel Mutai and Moses Kigen Kipkosgei both from Kenya with  the top female finishers  being Edna Kiplagat of kenya , Shalane Flanagan of the United States , she also took 2nd place over all and Mary Keitany of Kenya took 3rd.