New York City is now the location in which the most prestigious marathon and half marathon are staged. The former, the TCS NYC Marathon, a 26.2 mile trek through all five of the city’s boroughs, has long been the most coveted title by world class long distance runners. This past Saturday, the United Airlines NYC Half rose to the same status among 13.1 mile races.
Both are produced by the New York Road Runners (NYRR), which holds 60 annual adult and youth races. The NYRR is a non-profit organization founded in 1958 by the late, great Ted Corbitt, commonly known as the father of American long distance running and the first African American to compete in an Olympic marathon, making history at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Corbitt would have been proud to see history made this past Saturday as over 28,600 runners finished the United Airlines NYC Half, the most ever for the event, which began in 2006. Leading them across the tape in Central Park, where the race, starting on Washington Avenue near the Brooklyn Museum in Prospect Park and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time in the arduous competition’s 19 years, were Abel Kipchumba, Sharon Lokedi, Geert Schipper, and Manuela Schär.
For the second straight NYC Half, Kipchumba, from Kenya, captured the men’s open division in a race record 59:09. Lokedi, also from Kenya and the 2022 NYC Marathon champion, won the women’s open division title, setting an event record by clocking 1:07:04. Schipper, from the Netherlands, defended his title in the men’s wheelchair division in 49:53, and Schär, a three-time Paralympics gold medalist, took her fourth NYC Half in 54:09 for the women’s wheelchair victory. She was previously on the podium for wins in 2015, 2018, and 2022.
“I think it’s a really exciting time for the women’s field. And I’m so excited to see that and to still be part of it,” Schär said on the NYRR Set the Pace podcast.
As for Kipchumba, he approached the half in the same manner as he does full marathons.
“When I was coming for this second half marathon [in] New York, I was training for a marathon.
I was well prepared … because you must prepare your psychology … Today the field was so strong, that told me to push more, and then I ran that 59:09,” he explained.
The United Airlines Half featured world-class professional athletes from 14 countries, 30 Olympians and Paralympians, and multiple national record holders.