


	DATE: Sunday, November 2, 2008 LOCATION: The Five Boroughs of New York City START: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Staten Island FINISH: Tavern on the Green, Central Park The Marathon The 2008 ING New York City Marathon saw two former champions return to the winner’s circle. Brazilian runner Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, the 2006 champion, captured his second ING NYC Marathon title with a time of 2:08:43. Paula Radcliffe picked up her third New York victory and defended her 2007 title with a fast 2:23:56 win--nearly two minutes ahead of the second place finisher. This victory bumped Radcliffe into second place for most New York wins behind Grete Waitz’ nine. Radcliffe outlasted a tough women’s field that was stacked with top marathoners and former NYC champions. After a disappointing showing in the Summer Olympics, Radcliffe successfully bounced back to maintain her unbeaten streak in New York. Ludmila Petrova (RUS) finished less than two minutes behind Radcliffe and American Kara Goucher, making her first NYC Marathon appearance, rounded out the top three. The men’s race was closer then the women’s race with Marilson Gomes Dos Santos and Abderrahim Goumi of Morocco battling for the title over the final five miles of the race. It seemed as though Goumi was pulling away at the 23.5 mile mark, but Gomes charged back to take the lead with about ľ of a mile to go. Gomes never looked back, as he finished with a comfortable 24 second lead over Goumi. Goumi was runner-up for the second consecutive year. Kenyans Daniel Rono and 2005 NYC Marathon champion Paul Tergat finished third and fourth, respectively.

American men had their best showing in the marathon since 1982, as four runners placed in the top ten: Abdi Abdirahman (sixth), Josh Rohatinsky (seventh), Jason Lehmkuhle (eighth) and Bolota Asmerom (tenth).

In the men’s wheelchair race, Australian Kurt Fearnley collected his third ING New York City Marathon title, finishing in 1:44:50. On the women side, Edith Hunkeler pulled off yet another win in 2:06:42, her fourth victory in four starts in New York. Arkadiusz Skrzypinski of Poland won the handcycle division with a time of 1:35:26.

The 2008 ING New York City Marathon featured an impressive field of professional runners that included 21 Olympians, six Olympic medalists, 10 World Championship individual medalists and 13 current and former World Marathon Majors race champions. Pros and amateurs alike competed for a prize purse of more than $600,000, with the men's and women's champions each receiving $130,000.

New York City is the last stop in the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series which kicked off in April with the running of the Boston Marathon and also includes the London, Berlin and Chicago Marathons. The series showcases the sport's top athletes and awards a prize purse of $1 million to be divided between the male and female point leaders at the end of the series (determined by finishing times at each of the five races). The 2007-08 WMM series champions are Martin Lel of Kenya and Irina Mikitenko of Germany.

It is estimated that the 2008 ING New York City Marathon generated more than $220 million in economic impact - the largest economic impact of any single-day sporting event in New York City. Approximately two million spectators watched the event from the streets, while a worldwide audience of over 315 million viewed the televised broadcast. In addition, the New York Road Runners Foundation's "Team for Kids" achieved its goal of raising $3.5 million for children's running programs. The marathon's collective charity fundraising goal for all beneficiaries was $13 million.

The field of 38,356 starters included several celebrities. Actor Ryan Reynolds, who ran to raise money for Parkinson’s suffers, completed the race in 3:50:22. Reynolds’ father, Jim, has spent the last 15 years struggling with the disease. Other celebrity participants included Model/actress Beth Ostrosky, former soccer star Brandi Chastain and former Olympian Kerri Strug.

To learn more about the New York City Marathon and view the winners from each year, please visit our Marathon History Page.

For information from last year's race, please visit our 2007 page.

For detailed information on participating and
viewing the race, please visit the ING NYC Marathon Website.

Last Updated On: Friday, November 7, 2008



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