[Photo credit: Claire McLoughlin]
From Jane McCarthy…
What a privilege it felt to be running over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at the start of the 2025 New York City Marathon just a few minutes after the world’s elite had set off past us on the opposite side of the 7 lane Interstate. We were sent on our way to ‘New York, New York’ ringing out loud and an NYPD helicopter at eye level alongside us. New Yorkers know how to organise a marathon. Water stations were every mile and the support covered the entire course, across the 5 famous boroughs – a route redesigned from the original Manhattan-only course in 1976.
Being the only Harrier running (as far as I know) I was delighted to hear from Claire McLoughlin that she and dad Mike Baldwin were visiting family and would be ready at Mile 7 with an inflatable dinosaur on a stick. I was chuffed to see them and it gave an important mental boost to have a cheer.
The route is definitely undulating, some might say ‘hilly’ in places and a challenge. Queensborough Bridge is just under a mile and a half in length – about a 1km of climb, starting around 6%, then an easier 3-3.5% gradient, before a lovely descent. The final 2-3 miles around Central Park felt impossibly long and slow. Absolutely delighted to cross the finish line in 3:08 on a stunningly beautiful day, still and not a cloud in the sky. The volunteers made every runner feel like a winner as we collected our medal. There were just short of 60,000 finishers, breaking the record for largest number of finishers set in London earlier this year.
1 Benson Kipruto 2:08:09
24 Hellen Obiri 2:19:51 (new course record)
3596 Jane McCarthy 3:08:42
59,135 finishers