Time until start of wave 1 of the New York City Marathon 2023:

You can click the pictures above to get a larger image. Click on the bottom right on the zoomed image to go back to normal view.

I have been running the New York City Marathon 43 times, each year since my debut in 1978. That time it was 9,875 starters. Only 3 have run it more times in the history of the race. All 3 are from New York. 1 has run 46 times and 2 have run 44 times. On these pages I give advice for other participants and runners who plan to run NYC Marathon for the first time, and for those who have run previously.

These pages are updated frequently when I have news. Several have asked me what is changed since the last version. So I will highlight changes and new text since the last update in RED. You always see the last time one of the pages have been updated at the bottom of this page!

Here are some statistics from New York City Marathon 2019:

• 54,205 started.
• 53,640 finished. That's an amazing 99.0%! (30,894 men and 22,746 women).
• Finishers from all 50 US states.
• Finishers from 141 countries.
• Oldest man finishing: 88.
• Oldest woman finishing: 82.
• 28,472 US finishers (14,387 men and 14,161 women).
• 25,092 finishers from other countries.
• 346 Norwegian finishers (214 men and 132 women).
• New York had the most with 14,006 finishers.
• Italy had most finishers outside USA with 2,851
• The age group with the most finishers was 40-44 years with 8,466 finishers (4,877 men and 3,589 women).

And here from 2022:

• 48,762 started.
• 47,840 finished. That is incredible 98.1% in the hot weather. (26,608 men, 21,185 women and 47 non-binary).
• Finishers from all 50 US states.
• Finishers from 131 countries.
• Oldest man finishing: 88.
• Oldest woman finishing: 82.
• 28,522 US finishers (13,823 men and 14,656 women).
• 347 Norwegian finishers (231 men and 116 women).
• Italy had most finishers outside USA with 2,249
• The age group with the most finishers was 40-44 years with 7,331 finishers (4,093 men and 3,229 women).
• Average finishing time: 4:50:26 (Men 4:39:31, Women 5:04:06)

These are the countries with most finishers:

Number of finishers for each year that I have run (1978 -2022):

You can click the graph to see a larger graph. Click in the lower right corner of the zoomed graph to go back.

Number of finishers 1978 - 2022

Click HERE to see the numbers in a table.

An interesting story:

I have a lot of interesting stories from my runs in New York. I would like to share a story from 1978, my first run in New York. Then I met Grete Waitz in the starting area several hours before the start, and we talked a long time. I gave her all my best advice. But I was surprised when I met her again after the finish on my way back to the hotel. I asked her how she did, and the answer was "They say that I won and set a new world record!". I have a poster of Grete at home where she has written (in Norwegian): "To Runar: Thank you for all the good advice in 1978 in New York. Greetings, Grete Waitz".

The finishers medal in 2008 had a picture of Grete on the front (see below). On the back it says: "Grete Waitz, the greatest champion in New York City Marathon history". She won 9 times. In November 2011 Runner's World had a large article about Grete, especially about the race in 1978. It's written in a very interesting way. All along they interview people who knew her, and I tell about my meeting with her before and after the race. I recommend everybody to read that article. Click here to read a copy of the article!

Here are all my bibs from 1978 to 2022 and medals from 1978 to 2022 (Virtual Marathon in 2020 because of COVID-19). You can click on the pictures to see a larger picture.

Runar B. Gundersen. The pages were last updated: September 28, 2023.

runar.bg@gmail.com