There were no clouds of dust like in 1982 when Alberto Salazar pulled free from Mexico’s Rodolfo GÓMEZ coming off Columbus Circle into Central Park along a dirt path at 25.9 miles to take his third and final New York City Marathon crown. 

BTW, that’s the marathon he never recovered from. People talk about Boston ‘82 in his famous Duel in The Sun against Dick Beardsley in April where Alberto was at the end of his tether following his ballsy two-seconds victory, 2:08;52 to 2:08:54. But it was in New York City against Gomez in October that he crossed his personal Rubicon. Al never fully recovered after that tussle. His next two marathons were fifth place finishes in Rotterdam in the spring and then Fukuoka in December 1983.

Then, after losing in a kick to Pete Pfitzinger at the Olympic Trials in Buffalo, another disappointment came at the Los Angeles Olympic Marathon where Al came home in 15th place. And that was that as far as his marathon career was concerned.

But this year’s 53rd running of the great race witnessed three of its four major category champions taking their strides into history at exactly that same entry point for the final 3/10 of a mile stretch to the tape break. 

First it was America’s Daniel Romanchuk exploding past England’s David Weir in the men’s push-rim wheelchair division to take his third New York City Marathon crown. 

 

 

Then it was Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui downshifting to break away from defending champion and countrywoman Hellen Obiri, in the women’s professional race. 

And finally, Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, who looked serene throughout the final miles in Central Park, waiting till that exact same spot to make his decisive move to the winner’s podium as he put away 2022 New York  City and two-time Boston champion Evans Chebet.

It seems to matter how these races begin and play out though the opening segments – and both professional foot races were decidedly slow builders, women on 2:34 pace, the men on 2:14 in the early Brooklyn splits – they are increasingly coming down to the final few hundred meters between at least two athletes.

So well matched are these fields – congrats to Sam Grotewold for assembling the not overly deep, but carefully selected fields – so similar is their training, their equipment, and nutrition, that it’s very difficult to gain those large margin victories that we saw at the beginning of the five-borough era with Bill Rodgers winning by three minutes over Frank Shorter in 1976. 

Rodgers’ 2:10:10 win in the inaugural, five-borough marathon, remains one of the great performances in the event’s history. It even included a flight of stairs.

If we take the 4% advantage the new super shoes are said to offer their well-adapting wearers, 2:10:10 suddenly becomes 2:04:57, one second faster than Tamirat Tola’s course record from 2023. Interesting.

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