Mary Keitany of Kenya bagged her third consecutive win on New York City Marathon, finishing in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 26 seconds. She pulled away from the elite women's pack less than halfway into the race and ran most of the race alone, her No. 1 spot uncontested over more than a dozen miles.
On the other hand, the men's race was more conventional, with a pack of elite runners sticking together for more than half of the 26.2 mile course before 20-year-old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie pulled away. The 20-year-old Eritrean runner crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 51 seconds, making him the youngest man ever to win. NPR said that Lucas Rotich of Kenya finished second in the men's field, while Abdi Abdirahman, an American, finished third.
Ghebreslassie finished fourth at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro over the summer. However, Keitany was cut from Kenya's Olympic team, although she was considered as the second fastest female marathoner ever. New York Times adds that Keitany is the first woman to win three in a row since Grete Waitz won five from 1982 to 1986.
Sally Kipyego of Kenya took home the second place in the women's race with a time more than three minutes slower than Keitany's. Molly Huddle of the United States was third. Meanwhile, in the women's wheelchair race, the American Tatyana McFadden won her fourth New York City Marathon title in a row, and her fifth overall. She has dominated wheelchair racing since 2004, when she won her first Paralympic Games medal at the age of 15.
She also described how she won the right to compete as a young athlete at Atholton High in Howard County, Md. "She didn't want to be the girl in the wheelchair; even then, she wanted to be seen as a top athlete. 'People look at you and in their minds [they] see, 'Oh, the girl with a disability in a wheelchair is running for a high school team. Congratulations.' And for me as an elite athlete, it's not what you want as an elite athlete.'"
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