Mayor Bloomberg: ING New York City Marathon Will Go on! by Barbara Heubner, NYRR News Service, note by Larry Eder

The 2012 ING New York City Marathon will go on, per the Mayor himself. Mayor Bloomberg noted that, while some have expressed concern about the marathon being held less than a week after Hurricane Sandy and the use of city services, the Mayor countered that many, including small businesses across Manhattan, rely on the marathon for economic survival.

Mayor: ING New York City Marathon Will Go On

October 31, 2012 at 04:30pm EST | by Barbara Huebner, NYRR News Service

At a news conference this afternoon, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the ING New York City Marathon would be run as scheduled on Sunday.

“There are tens of thousands of people who come from around the world here to run,” Bloomberg said. “We’ve decided that the marathon will go on.

The announcement came after city and race officials determined that it would be safe to hold the 26.2-mile event in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Bloomberg said at the news conference that the race is an important part of the city’s economy, and people who died in the storm would want the race to go on.

“The bottom line is, some people said you shouldn’t run the marathon,” he said. “There are an awful lot of small businesses that depend on these people. We have to have an economy.”

The race is expected to attract about 47,000 runners, and will be carried live on ESPN2 and ABC7. The ESPN broadcast is the first live, national airing of the race since 1993.

http://www.nyrr.org/newsroom/nyrr-news-service/mayor-ing-new-york-city-marathon-will-go-on

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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