The first-ever New York City Marathon took place on September 13, 1970, featuring 127 runners participating in a four-lap course around Central Park.
Among the 127 runners, only 55 finished the historic race.
Gary Muhrcke, former New York City fireman and Long Island (Huntington) resident, was the first champion of the inaugural race with a finish time of 2:31:39.
To recognize this special moment, Muhrcke, now 80 years old, ran one lap of the original course today in Central Park. Muhrcke ran with his grandson, Colin Kern, and had a finish time of 58:21.
Kern was a 2013 graduate of Northport HS, who would continue on to SUNY Geneseo. Northport would qualify for NXN that 2013 Season, and while at Geneseo, Kern would go on to qualify for the D3 NCAA XC Champs in 2017.
The TCS New York Marathon has grown to become one of the most anticipated and iconic annual sporting events in New York City, drawing fans and runners of all ages and abilities and is the largest marathon in the world, annually featuring more than 50,000 runners, 1 million spectators, and 10,000 volunteers.
Though the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon which was scheduled for November 1 has been canceled due to health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, thousands will run the 2020 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon from locations around the world between October 17 - November 1. The 50th running of the TCS New York City Marathon will take place on November 7, 2021.
CREDIT:New York Road Runners