More than 50,000 people took part in last year’s race, making it the biggest in the world, and this Sunday’s turnout is also expected to be huge.
NEW YORK—Security is tight as New York City prepares for its annual marathon, set to begin at 8 a.m. on Sunday, one year after record-breaking participation in the 2023 marathon and just two days before Election Day.
Officials expect at least 33,000 participants this year, or possibly more. In preparation, officials have actively ramped up security. On Friday morning, the discovery in Central Park of an object that initially looked suspicious briefly caused a closure of part of the park and raised security concerns over the coming race. But a bomb squad quickly found the device not to be dangerous.
Nonetheless, police will be out in force, and authorities will strictly
enforce bag inspections and a prohibition against the deployment of drones, under threat of criminal penalties, in all areas in and around the marathon zone.
With former President Donald Trump’s sold-out Madison Square Garden rally having just happened on Oct. 27, the city’s annual Halloween Parade on Thursday, the marathon on Sunday, and Election Day on Tuesday, New York City officials will have grappled with huge security and logistical issues for four events in the space of a little over one week.
The expected turnout is high because a total of 51,402 people from 148 countries and from all 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam, ran in last year’s highly competitive race, marking it as the
largest event of its kind in the world.
In that contest, Ethiopian runner Tamirat Tola
won in the men’s category, completing it in two hours, four minutes, and 58 seconds, while Hellen Obiri of Kenya won in the women’s category, finishing in two hours, 27 minutes, and 23 seconds.
This Sunday’s race will take place over a 26.2-mile
route, starting in Staten Island, running through Brooklyn and up into Long Island City, Queens, before looping around in Manhattan and running south into Central Park, where it will turn north again and end a short distance above the southern end of the park at 59th Street.
The first phase of the race, the professional wheelchair division, will commence at 8 a.m., followed at 8:22 with the handcycle category and athletes with disabilities. The professional women’s open division begins at 8:35, and the professional men’s open division at 9:05.
The city has made available a
list of all public streets in the five boroughs that will close for part of the day to accommodate the marathon.
