Follow the blue line to the TCS NYC Marathon finish line!
Officials gathered in Central Park on Wednesday to paint the way leading runners to the end of Sunday’s big 26.2-mile foot race from the foot of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge on Staten Island.
According to the New York Road Runners Club, some 50,000 runners are expected to take on the marathon this Sunday. The race has grown from humble roots in Central Park in 1970 into a five-borough international event attracting not only the best marathoners in the world but also everyday people looking to pass the ultimate test of endurance.
“The TCS New York City Marathon is the best day of the year in New York City, because unlike any other day or event, it brings this city together. There are few things more quintessentially New York than the TCS New York City Marathon,” CEO of New York Road Runners Rob Simmelkjaer said. “Where else can you stand shoulder to shoulder with 50,000 other runners, but also 2 million strangers cheering on other strangers from all over the world?”
New York has always been known as the city of stories, and marathon staff say there will be many more thousand stories added over the weekend among runners looking to honor loved ones in their run or achieve a personal accomplishment.
In honor of their journey, NYPD interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon, Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, and more joined together to paint the blue line leading to the finish point near Tavern on the Green.
“Some 50 gallons of Marathon blue paint will be used to paint the official four-inch, 26-mile-long blue line that will guide runners throughout 300 New York City intersections and five bridges,” Rodriguez added.
The marathon is expected to start at about 8 a.m. on Nov. 3 from the Staten Island foot of the Verrazzano Bridge. Runners will head northbound along the span and cross four more bridges — the Pulaski, Ed Koch-Queens Boro, Willis Avenue and Macombs Dam Bridges — as they wind their way through the five boroughs to Central Park.
