Posted: November 10, 2005

Athletics: 2005 ING NYC Marathon Post-Race Facts

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Men's champion: Paul Tergat, 36, Kenya, 2:09:29:90 (raw chip time, 2:09:30 official)
Women's champion: Jelena Prokopcuka, 29, Latvia, 2:24:41 (1st Latvian champion at New York)
Men's Wheelchair champion: Ernst Van Dyk, 32, South Africa, 1:31:11 (course record)
Women's Wheelchair champion: Edith Hunkeler, 33, Switzerland, 1:54:52

This year marks the closest margin of victory (0:01 second) in the history of the ING New York City Marathon.
* Paul Tergat, 2:09:30; Hendrick Ramaala, 2:09:31 (actual gap between 3/10ths and 4/10ths of a second)
o Ramaala won in 2004 with a time of 2:09:28

* Second smallest margin of men's victory was 0:02 in 1994:
o German Silva, 2:11:21 over Benjamin Paredes, 2:11:23

* Closest women's finish was 0:03 in 2004:
o Paula Radcliffe at 2:23:10 over Susan Chepkemei 2:23:13

Susan Chepkemei placed second for the second consecutive year, and the third time in the race.

Other consecutive second place finishes
* Joseph Chebet 1997, 1998 (first in 1999)
* Japhet Kosgei 2000, 2001
* Olga Markova 1991, 1992
* Andres Espinosa 1991, 1992
* Kim Jones 1989, 1990

Meb Keflezighi (3rd place, 2:09:56) and Abdi Abdirahman (5th place, 2:11:24) both finished in the top five with the two fastest times in 2005 by Americans citizens.

* 1993 was the last time two American men were in the top five: Bob Kempainen of Minnetonka, MN (2nd) and Keith Brantly of Ormond Beach, FL (5th)

Personal bests were recorded by:
      - Abdi Abdirahman 2:11:24
      - Matt Downin 2:14:28
     - John Henwood  2:15:05
     - Marie Davenport 2:33:59 (debut)
     - Tatiana Gladyr 2:29:34
     - Olesva Nurgalyeva 2:29;35
     - Zoila Gomez  2:41:43 (debut)

Twelve Women Ran sub-2:30:00, largest ever in race history and the most of any commercial marathon during 2005 (World Championships had 14).

The 2005 ING New York City Marathon is the biggest marathon in the history of the sport:

     - 37,516 starters
     - 36,894 finishers 
     - Record number of applicants: 87,700 
* The ING NYC Marathon holds 3 spots in the Top 5 Largest Marathon
Races
o        ING NYC Marathon 2005 - 36,894 finishers
o        ING NYC Marathon 2004 - 36,562 finishers
o        Boston Marathon 1996 - 35,868 finishers
o        Flora London Marathon 2005 - 35,260 finishers
o        ING NYC Marathon 2003 - 34,729 finishers

Prize Money and Time Bonus Money:
- Largest ever payout in NYC Marathon race history: $873,500 (previous $868,094 in 2001)
- Jelena Prokopcuka won a $130,000 purse-the largest guaranteed first place prize in the history (plus $30,000 in time bonuses) of marathoning courtesy of $65,000 additional funding by ING's Run For Something Better program.

Other Notable finishers:
* Laurent Jalabert, Former French cyclist: 2:55:39
* John Legere, CEO Global Crossing: 3:13:41
* Tate Donovan, OC Actor: 3:28:49
* Carter Brey, Principal Cellist NY Philharmonic: 3:32:39
* Jim Jenness, CEO Kellogg's: 3:51:28
* Yannick Noah, tennis great, 4:11:52
* Vanessa Carlton, Grammy award nominee: 3:56:59
* Thomas Westman, winner Survivor: 4:45:47
* Carla Cico, CEO Brasil Telecom: 4:51:38