Tuesday, September 13, 2005

The race is on...

It was on this date in 1970 that Freeport firefighter Gary Muhrcke crossed the finish line in Central Park and got his name in the record books as the first official winner of the initial New York City Marathon...

As opposed to this year's running of the race in November when over 37,000 will compete, there were only 175 brave souls at the starting line, 55 at the finish. Gary completed the 26 miles in 2 hours, 31 minutes and 38 seconds. Last year's winner, Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa was 22 minutes faster at 2:09:28...

Today the race covers the 5 boroughs of New York City and is witnessed by millions on TV. Back in 1970 it was 4 times around Central Park and see ya later. There was no TV coverage...

The marathon was organized by the New York Road Runners Club, led by the late Fred Lebow...

More marathon factoids in my commentary...

More September 13 Memories...

1948) Margaret Chase Smith, elected to the U.S. Senate, becomes the 1st woman to serve in both houses of Congress...

1960) The FCC bans payola...

1962) The Four Seasons top the charts for the first time with "Sherry"...

1963) Barbra Streisand and Elliot Gould walk down the aisle...

1963) "Outer Limits" premieres on ABC-TV...

1965) On the day that "Yesterday" is released, the Beatles win their first Grammy for "Best Group of 1964". Louis Armstrong wins for "Best Male Vocalist" for his chart topper "Hello Dolly"...

1969) John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band makes its debut...

1969) The Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival Festival stars Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Gene Vincent, The Doors and Alice Cooper...

1970) The first New York City Marathon is run (feature story)...

1971) The 4-day revolt at Attica ends with the final death toll at 43...

1974) "The Rockford Files" debuts on NBC-TV...

1985) Sting begins his first solo tour in San Diego...

1989) Fay Vincent is named commissioner of Baseball, succeeding the late A. Bart Giamatti...

1991) Alice Cooper sells his new album "Hey Stoopid" in Times Square for 99 cents...

1993) "Late Night with Boston's Conan O'Brien premieres on NBC-TV...

1993) Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shake hands on an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy...

1996) Rapper Tupac Shakur dies 6 days after being shot in a drive-by shooting...

1998) Former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace dies at 79...

1998) "Frasier" wins a record 5th consecutive Emmy as TV's best comedy series...

2001) U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell names Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the terror attacks of 911. Limited commercial flights are resumed for the first time since the attacks...

Happy Birthday to...

1937) Fred Silverman...

1941) Blood, Sweat & Tears' David Clayton-Thomas...

1944) Jacqueline Bisset...

1944) Chicago's Peter Cetera...

1965) Zak (son of Ringo) Starkey...

1968) Bernie Williams...

Commentary...

Originally run in September, the New York City Marathon is now run in more favorably cooler weather in November. The best temperature for runners is 50 degrees or cooler...

The youngest runner in last year's race was 18 while the oldest was 83. Over 13,000 of the total of more than 37,000 runners had never run a marathon before. The majority of the runners were married and had at least attended graduate school. There were more runners from New York than any other state and more runners from England than any other country. It just seems that runners from Kenya win every year but only 10 contestants hailed from that African country last year...

The New York City Marathon has become an annual major event with hundreds of thousands lining the best viewing locations in all 5 boroughs while countless millions more watch on TV...

While New York was just a bit tardy on starting a marathon, oh let's say 73 years tardy. The nation's first marathon was run in Boston in 1897, but New York's is now recognized as the biggest one of all...