The NYC Marathon returned after being cancelled in Hurricane Sandy's wake last year—but security was high due to the Boston marathon bombing. The NY Times reported on what many marathoners saw on the Staten Island Ferry to the starting line, "There in the New York Harbor next to her ferry was a Coast Guard boat. On its bow was what several marathoners described as a machine gun, manned by a uniformed man who looked ready to shoot."
The big winners were both from Kenya: The men's winner was Geoffrey Mutai, 32, who set the course record the last time the race was held in 2011, with a time of 2:08:23. Women's winner Priscah Jeptoo, 29, clocked in at 2:25:07. The men’s wheelchair winner was Marcel Hug of Switzerland beating runner-up Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa by less than a second with a time of 1:40:14. Tatyana McFadden of the United States won the women's wheelchair race in 1:59:13, her fourth "Grand Slam" victory after winning in Chicago, London, and Boston this year. Other notable finishers were Anthony Edwards (Goose/Dr. Green), who had an unofficial time of 4:45, and ex-Baywatch and Home Improvement babe Pamela Anderson, who ran in 5:41.
According to the marathon organizers, there were 50,700 starters and the finishers "will almost certainly set another record for finishers, eclipsing the 2011 total of 47,340." New York Road Runners president Mary Wittenberg said, "Today is a really important day for the marathon, the racing community, New York and Boston and big cities, that we were going to continue holding on to and celebrating this beautiful [event of] people coming together the way we can on our streets, in a way we don’t on any other day of the year."
