Chatham Runners To Compete In 2021 TCS New York City Marathon

CHATHAM, NJ — The countdown is on for the TCS New York City Marathon, sidelined by COVID in 2020 and now back this coming Sunday, celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The last 26.2 mile race in 2019 had 53,639 finishers, who averaged 4:35:52 for their time, with participants from 140 countries converging into the Big Apple, raising $45 million for charity, according to the New York Road Runners.

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The New York Road Runners Club, the organization behind the tradition, states the race will be “star-studded,” with runners like model Christy Turlington, New York Giants football legend Tiki Barber, Olympic gold medalist and FIFA World Cup champion Abby Wambach and Morning Joe co-host Willie Geist, some of many big names among them.

Cited as the “largest marathon in the world,” in the news release about the celebrity runners, it normally takes place each year every first Sunday of November, with the first race in 1970 kicking off with “just 127 runners racing four laps of Central Park.”

In the first marathon since the COVID-19 pandemic, marathoners will need to furnish “proof of at least one round of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from within 48 hours of race day” and wear face coverings on “race day, at the start and at the post-finish area.” To pick up a bib inside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, proof of at least one COVID-19 vaccine is needed, with all others picking bibs up outside.

Broadcast of the 2021 race begins at 7 a.m., with WABC-TV and ESPN2 starting to air it at 8:30 a.m., the marathon website states.

Spectators can also track their favorite runners who are in the marathon in New York or virtually, in a special app, with more download information available here.

Who are the runners from Chatham who are planning to lace up their running shoes?

A spokesperson for their organization states these are the runners below from Chatham who consented to have their names published, with not every runner of the more than 50,000 who plan to run this year, listed:

• Ginelle Brown
• Maxime Jeanne
• Andrew Bernstein
• Robert Jennings
• Katie Stefko
• John Reardon
• Francine Leff
• Kai Bickenbach
• Tony Valenzuela

See the video below with highlights of some of the past marathons in New York City:

For more information about the marathon, visit www.nyrr.org/tcsnycmarathon.

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