BY THE NUMBERS
ING New York City Marathon 2008
November 2
THE RACE
âÂ. 38,356 starters
âÂ. 37,899 finishers
âÂ. 66 percent of the finishers were male, and 34 percent were female
âÂ. 3,153 finishers from Italy, which had the highest number of non-U.S. finishers
âÂ. 3,037 finishers from Great Britain, which had the second-highest number of non-U.S. finishers
âÂ. 105 countries represented
âÂ. 50 states plus Washington, D.C., represented
âÂ. 10,926 finishers from the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
âÂ. Over 105,000 people applied for the ING New York City Marathon 2008, a record number of applicants
âÂ. Over 15,000 international participants at the Continental Airlines International Friendship Run on
Saturday, November 1, 2008
âÂ. Over 15,000 guests served at the Barilla PLUS Marathon Eve Dinner on Saturday, November 1, 2008
âÂ. Over 6,000 volunteers assisted with the operations of the ING New York City Marathon
Weather conditions at start
44 degrees, 45% humidity
Wind 13 mph west
Weather conditions at women’s finish
47 degrees, 41% humidity
Wind 3 mph variable
Weather conditions at men’s finish
47 degrees, 41% humidity
Wind 3 mph variable
THE PROFESSIONAL FIELD
The Champions
âÂ. Female open race winner: Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain, 2:23:56
âÂ. Male open race winner: Marilson Gomes dos Santos, Brazil, 2:08:43
âÂ. Female wheelchair race winner: Edith Hunkeler, Switzerland, 2:06:42
âÂ. Male wheelchair race winner: Kurt Fearnley, Australia, 1:44:50
âÂ. Female hand cycle race winner: Nicole Schefer, Netherlands, 1:46:34
âÂ. Male hand cycle race winner: Arkadiusz Skrzypinski, Poland, 1:35:26
Professional Race Highlights
âÂ. The professional women’s field had six personal bests:
o Kara Goucher, third, Portland, OR, 2:25:53
o Katie McGregor, 10th, St. Louis Park, MN, 2:31:14
o Ilsa Paulson, 15th, Flagstaff, AZ, 2:41:17
o Katarina Janosikova, 18th, Astoria, NY, 2:42:57
o Caroline Bierbaum, 22nd, New York, NY, 2:46:36
o Abbi Gleeson, 28th, New York, NY, 2:50:22
âÂ. The professional men’s field had five personal bests.
o Josh Rohatinsky, seventh, Portland, OR, 2:14:23
o Bolota Asmerom, 10th, San Francisco, CA, 2:16:37
o Boaz Cheboiywo, 19th, Kenya, 2:21:40
o Deresse Deniboba, 20th, Ethiopia, 2:21:54
o Edvard Gapak, 23rd, Ukraine, 2:22:37
âÂ. Kara Goucher set a USA debut record of 2:25:53, surpassing Deena Kastor’s mark from the 2001 ING
New York City Marathon (2:26:58). She also became the third-fastest American woman ever behind
Deena Kastor (2:19:36 PB) and Joan Benoit Samuelson (2:21:21 PB). She is the first American woman
to reach the podium in New York since Anne Marie Letko in 1994.
âÂ. Ludmila Petrova, 40, set a new world masters record of 2:25:43, surpassing Priscilla Welch’s 2:26:51
set in London in 1987.
âÂ. Paula Radcliffe became only the second woman besides Grete Waitz to win New York three times.
âÂ. Even with one of the strongest men’s fields ever in New York, four American men finished in the top 10, the most since five did so in 1982. They were Abdi Abdirahman (sixth), Josh Rohatinsky (seventh), Jason Lehmkuhle (eighth), and Bolota Asmerom (10th).
Athlete Payments
âÂ. Prize money and time bonuses totaled $814,300, an increase from $809,300 in 2007.
World Marathon Majors
âÂ. Tied with 65 points, Irina Mikitenko of Germany was voted the World Marathon Majors series
champion for 2007-08 over Gete Wami from Ethiopia. The two athletes were tied both on points and in
head-to-head meetings (1-1), so a vote of the five race directors was needed to break the tie.
âÂ. Martin Lel of Kenya, the 2007 ING New York City Marathon champion, won the 2007-08 World
Marathon Majors points series with 76 points. Lel had planned to compete in New York, but broke his
foot at the half-marathon in Lisbon on Sept. 28.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NUMBERS
ING New York City Marathon Local Broadcast
âÂ. 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.
âÂ. We offered the marathon online to a worldwide audience. Websites in Japan, New Zealand, Great
Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, and France promoted the event.
âÂ. Total household viewers: 369,000
âÂ. Household Rating = 4.1
âÂ. Streams
Total: 199,665
Live: 171,191
On-Demand & Highlights: 28,474
âÂ. Stats
Page Views: 1,181,053
Unique Users: 119,893
Visits: 154,292
Marathon Day Web Stats for ingnycmarathon.org:
âÂ. 308,396 unique visitors
âÂ. 446,553 visits
âÂ. 3,400,221 page views
âÂ. 8:06 was the average visit length
âÂ. 12,914,088 hits
Merchandise Sales
âÂ. All merchandise sales, including the Expo, course, and Marathon Monday, increased significantly from
2007.
Charity
âÂ. 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.
âÂ. 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.
âÂ. 1,233 runners ran as a part of Team for Kids.
âÂ. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Fred’s Team raised over $3.25 million for pediatric cancer.
âÂ. Team Continuum raised over $1.33 million.
Toyota Pick and Drive Promotion
âÂ. 8,067 submissions were received for the Pick and Drive promotion from Oct. 19 – Nov. 1.
âÂ. Brad White of North Carolina was the only person to guess the correct top 3 combination for the
women.
âÂ. Three people guessed the correct top 3 combination for the men, and winner Michael McAndrews of
Illinois was selected by a random drawing among the correct submissions.
SPECIAL INTEREST FINISHERS
âÂ. 87: age of Peter Harangozo, the oldest male finisher, in 8:00:39
âÂ. 83: age of Yolande Marois, the oldest female finisher, in 7:48:46
âÂ. Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge: Susan Moore (Queens) 3:24:26
âÂ.
Alberto Salazar Award (top American finishers):
o Male: Abdi Abdirahman, 2:14:17
o Female: Kara Goucher, 2:25:53
âÂ. Lewis Rudin Award (top Team For Kids fundraisers):
o Male: Drew Swiss, 4:41:00, New York
o Female: Nadia Titarchuk, 4:31:01, New York
âÂ. Avis Spirit Award winners:
o Male: Yannick Benjamin, 5:19:56, New York
o Female: Alyssa Johnson, 7:27:12, California
Runners of Note
âÂ. Brandi Chastain (former U.S. professional soccer player): 4:11:08
âÂ. Rod Dixon (winner, 1983 NYC Marathon): 3:38:15
âÂ. City Council Member Robert Jackson: 4:15:35
âÂ. Steve Jones (winner, 1988 NYC Marathon): 4:50:35
âÂ. Deputy Commissioner George Grasso (NYPD Commissioner): 4:45:25
âÂ. Beth Ostrosky (wife of Howard Stern): 4:15:39
âÂ. Zola (Budd) Pieterse (former world-class track runner): 2:59:53
âÂ. Ryan Reynolds (Canadian actor): 3:50:22
âÂ. Stephen Roche (winner, 1987 Tour de France and Giro d’Italia): 4:21:09
âÂ. Kerri Strug (former U.S. gymnast and 1996 Olympic gold medalist): 3:56:06
âÂ. Geoff Thomas (former English professional soccer player): 4:24:33