ING New York City Marathon 2008 by the Numbers

November 7, 2008 from Running USA wire/From the NYRR
THE RACE
* 38,356 starters
* 37,899 finishers
* 66 percent of the finishers were male and 34 percent were female
* 3,153 finishers from Italy, which had the highest number of non-U.S. finishers
* 3,037 finishers from Great Britain, which had the second-highest number of non-U.S. finishers
* 105 countries represented
* 50 states plus Washington, D.C., represented
* Over 105,000 people applied for the ING New York City Marathon 2008, a record number of applicants
* Over 15,000 international participants at the Continental Airlines International Friendship Run on Saturday, November 1, 2008
* Over 15,000 guests served at the Barilla PLUS Marathon Eve Dinner on Saturday, November 1, 2008
* Over 6,000 volunteers assisted with the operations of the ING New York City Marathon

THE PROFESSIONAL FIELD
The Champions
* Female open race winner: Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain, 2:23:56
* Male open race winner: Marilson Gomes Dos Santos, Brazil, 2:08:43
* Female wheelchair race winner: Edith Hunkeler, Switzerland, 2:06:42
* Male wheelchair race winner: Kurt Fearnley, Australia, 1:44:50
* Female hand cycle race winner: Nicole Schefer, Netherlands, 1:46:34
* Male hand cycle race winner: Arkadiusz Skrzypinski, Poland, 1:35:26

Professional Race Highlights
The professional women's field had six personal bests:
* Kara Goucher, third, Portland, OR, 2:25:53
* Katie McGregor, 10th, St. Louis Park, MN, 2:31:14
* Ilsa Paulson, 15th, Flagstaff, AZ, 2:41:17
* Katarina Janosikova, 18th, Astoria, NY, 2:42:57
* Caroline Bierbaum, 22nd, New York, NY, 2:46:36
* Abbi Gleeson, 28th, New York, NY, 2:50:22

The professional men's field had five personal bests:
* Josh Rohatinsky, seventh, Portland, OR, 2:14:23
* Bolota Asmerom, 10th, San Francisco, CA, 2:16:37
* Boaz Cheboiywo, 19th, Kenya, 2:21:40
* Deresse Deniboba, 20th, Ethiopia, 2:21:54
* Edvard Gapak, 23rd, Ukraine, 2:22:37

Historical Moments
* Kara Goucher set a U.S. debut record of 2:25:53, surpassing Deena Kastor's mark from the 2001 New York City Marathon (2:26:58). She also became the third-fastest American woman ever behind Deena Kastor (2:19:36) and Joan Benoit Samuelson (2:21:21). She is the first American woman to reach the podium in New York since Anne Marie Letko in 1994.
* Ludmila Petrova , 40, set a new world masters record of 2:25:43, besting Priscilla Welch 's 2:26:51 set in London in 1987.
* Paula Radcliffe became only the second woman besides Grete Waitz to win New York at least three times.
* Even with one of the strongest men's fields ever in New York, four U.S. men finished in the top 10, the most since five did so in 1982. They were Abdi Abdirahman (sixth), Josh Rohatinsky (seventh), Jason Lehmkuhle (eighth), and Bolota Asmerom (10th).

Athlete Payments
* Prize money and time bonuses totaled $814,300, an increase from $809,300 in 2007.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NUMBERS
ING New York City Marathon Local Broadcast
* The ING NYC Marathon set the single-day record for the most streams live and on-demand any sport, most page views, and most visits on NBCSports.com and UniversalSports.com.
* We offered the marathon online to a worldwide audience. Websites in Japan, New Zealand, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Spain, and France promoted the event.

Merchandise Sales
* All merchandise sales, including the Expo, course, and Marathon Monday, increased significantly from 2007.

Charity
* New York Road Runners' official charity program included 37 charities and over 5,000 runners. Collectively, as of race day, they raised more than $18.2 million.
* New York Road Runners Foundation's Team for Kids charity raised over $3.67 million for youth health and fitness programs in under-served New York City public schools.
* 1,233 runners ran as a part of Team for Kids.
* Memorial Sloan Kettering's Fred's Team raised over $3.25 million for pediatric cancer.
* Team Continuum raised over $1.33 million.

Toyota Pick and Drive Promotion
* 8,067 submissions were received for the Pick and Drive promotion from Oct. 19 - Nov. 1.
* Brad White of North Carolina was the only person to guess the correct top 3 combination for the women.
* Three people guessed the correct top 3 combination for the men, and winner Michael McAndrews of Illinois was selected by a random drawing among the correct submissions.

SPECIAL INTEREST FINISHERS
87: age of Peter Harangozo, the oldest male finisher, in 8:00:39
83: age of Yolande Marois, the oldest female finisher, in 7:48:46

* Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge: Susan Moore (Queens), 3:24:26

* Alberto Salazar Award (top American finishers):
Male: Abdi Abdirahman, 2:14:17
Female: Kara Goucher, 2:25:53

* Lewis Rudin Award (top Team for Kids fundraisers):
Male: Drew Swiss, 4:41:00, New York
Female: Nadia Titarchuk, 4:31:01, New York

* Avis Spirit Award winners:
Male: Yannick Benjamin, 5:19:56, New York
Female: Alyssa Johnson, 7:27:12, California

Runners of Note
* Brandi Chastain (former U.S. professional soccer player): 4:11:08
* Rod Dixon (winner, 1983 NYC Marathon): 3:38:15
* City Council Member Robert Jackson: 4:15:35
* Steve Jones (winner, 1988 NYC Marathon): 4:50:35
* Deputy Commissioner George Grasso (NYPD Commissioner): 4:45:25
* Beth Ostrosky (wife of Howard Stern): 4:15:39
* Zola (Budd) Pieterse (former world-class track runner): 2:59:53
* Ryan Reynolds (Canadian actor): 3:50:22
* Stephen Roche (winner, 1987 Tour de France and Giro d'Italia): 4:21:09
* Kerri Strug (former U.S. gymnast and 1996 Olympic gold medalist): 3:56:06
* Geoff Thomas (former English professional soccer player): 4:24:33

For more race information, go to: INGnycmarathon.org