{"id":386822,"date":"2026-10-29T18:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/386822\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T18:08:11","slug":"the-nyc-marathons-last-living-trailblazer-looks-back-on-the-race-that-changed-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/386822\/","title":{"rendered":"The NYC Marathon\u2019s Last Living \u201cTrailblazer\u201d Looks Back on the Race That Changed Running"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a milestone year for the New York City Marathon<\/a>: Sunday\u2019s race will be the 50th anniversary of the five-borough course, which was first run in 1976.<\/p>\n

From its inaugural year in 1970, the race was held in Central Park. But five men\u2014Ted Corbitt, Fred Lebow, George Spitz, Percy Sutton, and George Hirsch\u2014spearheaded an effort to change the course to run through each of the city\u2019s five boroughs, starting in Staten Island and ending in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Only one of the \u201ctrailblazers,\u201d<\/a> as the New York Road Runners calls them, is still alive. At 92, George Hirsch has seen the NYC Marathon develop from a fringe race in Central Park to the largest marathon in the world<\/a>. A longtime magazine publisher (including at Runner\u2019s World), Hirsch was the chairman of the NYRR board of directors from 2004 to 2023, and he helped generate the initial media buzz and funds for the 1976 race.<\/p>\n

In an interview in mid-October, Hirsch shared his memories of the early days of the five-borough race and reflected on how it\u2019s evolved over a half century.<\/p>\n

A troubled city<\/p>\n

The mid-1970s were a tough time to live in New York City. Crime was high, the economy was struggling, and thousands of residents fled for the suburbs. The city needed a pick-me-up, according to Hirsch. When Hirsch first heard the idea for a multi-borough race from Corbitt and Spitz, his immediate thought was that it would be a massive undertaking. Bridges would need to be closed, police hired, funds raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cClosing down a major city, the largest city in the United States, for a foot race was ambitious and it was unheard of at the time,\u201d he said, noting that the Boston Marathon has a smaller footprint on the city proper. Still, the pioneers were able to secure the backing of the mayor, Abe Beame, although it was not pitched as a recurring event.<\/p>\n

Now, they just needed to execute their idea. \u201cGoing into the [1976 race], our little running community was super excited about this New York Marathon,\u201d Hirsch said. \u201cBut what we had no way of knowing was how the city was going to embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1976New York Road Runners\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Runners competing in the 1976 New York City Marathon, starting in Staten Island, and finishing in Central Park on October 24, 1976.<\/p>\n

So how did it go?<\/p>\n

When Hirsch lined up on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island in 1976, he was eager but a little nervous. That quickly changed, as he descended the bridge into Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden, there were crowds on both sides of the street yelling and cheering,\u201d he remembered. \u201cSure, the crowds were nothing like they are today. Don\u2019t misunderstand me. But by those days\u2019 standards, it was extraordinary. And that was the way it was for our entire run.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TwoCourtesy George Hirsch<\/p>\n

Hirsch (right, bib #2) pushes to the finish in Central Park at the first five-borough marathon in 1976.<\/p>\n

Hirsch ran 2:49:29<\/a> that day, placing 156th out of 1,539 finishers. Bill Rodgers won the men\u2019s race, and Miki Gorman was the top woman. The atmosphere after the race was electric. Hirsch threw a party at his brownstone that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clearly a victory party,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was no question. It was a big celebration. We knew it had worked \u2026 It didn\u2019t have to work. There\u2019s a lot of things that can go wrong. And this one, it didn\u2019t happen. It just worked. It was terrific, and we felt really great about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legacy of the marathon<\/p>\n

After the success of the first year, the marathon began to steadily grow, and the five-borough format was adopted permanently. By 1980, there were 12,512 finishers. A decade later, there were 23,774. The race broke 40,000 finishers in 2009, and now it\u2019s routinely one of the largest marathons in the world. Sunday\u2019s race could see a record 60,000 participants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Besides growing demand, marathon day in New York developed into a de facto citywide holiday. More than 2 million people spectate the race, according to NYRR<\/a>, cheering on loved ones with custom signs, energetic music, and deafening cheers across the city. In many ways, the five-borough race paved the way for other urban marathons that snake through their city\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d go so far to say it was the most important development in the history of running,\u201d Hirsch said of the five-borough marathon. \u201cEvery city now has a marathon. It\u2019s changed the entire idea of running worldwide. And that didn\u2019t used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"1976New York Road Runners\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Spectators line the road in Central Park during the inaugural five-borough race.<\/p>\n

In his 92 years of life, Hirsch has witnessed multiple running booms, including the jogging craze of the 1970s, buoyed by Frank Shorter\u2019s Olympic gold in the marathon at the 1972 Games. Fast forward to the present day, and we\u2019re in the midst of another running boom<\/a>. The COVID-19 pandemic spurred participation, and now, in New York and across the country, race demand has hit a fever pitch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Getting a bib for the NYC Marathon\u2014and even smaller races organized by NYRR\u2014has become extremely difficult. Just 1 percent<\/a> of the 240,000 runners who applied for the marathon drawing were accepted for the 2026 race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is far and away the biggest boom,\u201d Hirsch said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s no question in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s race will look a lot different than 1976. The race will be about 40 times larger and nearly one-third of the runners will travel in from foreign countries. Fifty years ago, Hirsch had no idea what to expect. Now he can\u2019t stop marveling at what it has become.<\/p>\n

Find Your Next Running Playlist\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Theo Kahler is the senior news editor at Runner\u2019s World. He\u2019s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master\u2019s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He\u2019s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:37 in the half marathon, and finished 40th at the 2025 New York City Marathon. He enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a milestone year for the New York City Marathon: Sunday\u2019s race will be the 50th anniversary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[132053,567,140807,569,83931,568,9,56,63,65,64,56762,140806,108292],"class_list":["post-386822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-collection-new-york-city-marathon","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-59028b8c-1aa9-4b07-a210-7a8681dcebd7","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-read_time-5","tag-shorttitle-how-5-people-changed-the-nyc-marathon-forever","tag-sponsored-false"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}