New York City Marathon still world’s largest with 49,617 finishers

A total of 49,617 people crossed the finish line of last Sunday’s TCS New York City Marathon, once again making it the largest event of its kind in the world.

50,235 people started the race on Staten Island which means an incredible 98.8 per cent of the field completed the distance and made the 42.2K journey through the five boroughs and finished in Central Park.

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There were 28,914 male finishers (58 per cent) and 20,703 female finishers (42 per cent). The number of females finishers was the highest in event history.

Citizens of 125 countries and from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia were represented. Unofficially, 1178 Canadians completed the race representing 2.4 per cent of the entire field. For a comparison, Canadians represented 8.4 per cent of the field at the 2015 Boston Marathon.

The oldest female finisher was 84 year old Agnes Roest-Bomers of the Netherlands who ran 5:40:23. Eighty-three year old Richard Gonzalez of Louisiana finished in 6:54:51 making him the oldest male finisher.

The women’s race was won by Kenyan Mary Keitany in a time of 2:24:25. She was the first repeat champion since Paula Radcliffe in 2007 and 2008. Stanley Biwott, also of Kenya, won the men’s race in 2:10:34. It was his first victory both in New York City as well as at any Abbott World Marathon Major race.

Top Canadians were Tom McGrath in 2:30:54 and Liza Howard in 2:49:05.