The 54th edition of the TCS New York City Marathon took place this past Sunday, organized by the New York Road Runners and featuring a record-setting 59,226 participants from over 130 countries.
The grueling 26.2-mile course that went through all five boroughs saw Kenyan Hellen Obiri break a 22-year-old course record on her way to capturing her second women’s open division title in a time of 2:19:51.
“Honestly, I didn’t know I was on a record-setting pace because what was in my mind was to win the race, and then when I crossed the finish line and I saw 2:19, I said oh my goodness, that was so fast,” Obiri, a three-time Olympic medalist who became the eighth woman to repeat as winner after her 2023 win, she said to AmNews Monday morning.
On the men’s side, fellow Kenyan Benson Kipruto outlasted countryman Alexander Mutiso in a historically close finish, 2:08:09 to 2:08:09.03 to win the men’s open division. Kenyans finished first, second, and third in both the men’s and women’s races.
Marcel Hug won his seventh men’s wheelchair division championship, and American Susannah Scaroni won her second consecutive women’s wheelchair division title.
For most of the participants who crossed the finish line, running had a purpose, and for Cole Cook, Creative Producer of AK Worldwide, Founder of Timeless Eye, and brother of 15-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys, the inspiration came from raising funds for Keep a Child Alive (KCA), the nonprofit co-founded by his famous sibling. Cook assembled a team of nine other non-professional runners to form Team KCA and raise awareness and funds for the organization.
He shared with the AmNews that he plans for the marathon fundraiser, which sets a goal to raise at least $200,000, to become an annual event, and is excited for the 2026 marathon.
Native New Yorker and educator Cassandra Smith spoke about not only her inspiration for running, but also the health benefits it provides Black people.
“I started running because I used to work out in the park by myself, and when I would finish, I would go for walks, and I would see people running,” she said. “The more I got into it, I realized, it will help with high blood pressure, it helps with diabetes, it helps with heart conditions, and my dad suffers from those things, so it became a form of medicine also.”