{"id":389986,"date":"2026-11-01T18:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T18:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/389986\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T18:54:10","slug":"diehard-fans-pack-near-loneliest-stretch-of-nyc-marathon-for-touching-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/389986\/","title":{"rendered":"Diehard fans pack near loneliest stretch of NYC Marathon for touching reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mile 15 is famously the loneliest stretch of the New York City Marathon<\/a>, where runners trade the rowdy fan-packed streets of the boroughs for the quiet mile-long Queensboro Bridge as fatigue sets in.<\/p>\n

But there was a massive party right around the corner Sunday.<\/p>\n

When this year\u2019s event featuring a record-breaking pack of about 60,000 racers<\/a> turned onto Manhattan\u2019s First Avenue, they were rewarded with the loudest and most fervent cheers of the whole race as fans clogged the sidewalks of the bar and restaurant-filled artery.<\/p>\n

Fans gathered on First Ave. in Manhattan to support runners in the 2026 New York City Marathon on Nov. 1, 2026. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

Alexa (left) and Kylie Little supporting their friend Emily Kellog \u2014 a 29-year-old with breast cancer who trained for the race while undergoing chemotherapy. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

Among the throngs of fanatical supporters packing the Upper East Side bash were Alexa Little, 33, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and others clad in pink outfits to cheer on friend Emily Kellog, a 29-year-old with stage-four breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe trained all through her chemotherapy in order to run here today,\u201d Little said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is her first marathon, and she\u2019s running it with her sister who\u2019s also running for the first time. The whole family will be here wearing pink about 20 of them. She\u2019s incredibly determined. This is her dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also along the stretch were four Delaware high-school track stars who woke up at 3 a.m. to surprise their coach, Katrina Holloway, 50.<\/p>\n

Delaware high schoolers Alexander Ortega, Alexis Haase, Sophia Harrison, and Liam Harrington (left to right) drove up to New York City to support their cross country coach, Katrina Holloway. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cShe doesn\u2019t know we\u2019re here, but she\u2019s definitely going to spot us,\u201d said Sophia Harrison, 18 of Conrad Schools of Science in Wilmington.<\/p>\n

Harrison was hoisting a sign that featured signatures from all the members of the cross country team coached by Holloway, who was running the race to raise money for cystic fibrosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wrote her name real big on this sign, and we\u2019re going to yell all the inspirational things she\u2019s been yelling to us during our Champions season this year,\u201d the teen said.<\/p>\n

Marathon runners passing by the crowd after trekking over the Queensboro Bridge. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

A marathon fan with a supportive sign to help motivate the runners. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to yell. \u2018Trust your training! Gumption!’\u201d<\/p>\n

Holloway\u2019s trek of the five boroughs was just one of the ways the beloved teacher motivates her students.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s our English teacher and the coach for all of our running teams. The cross country team. The track team. She inspires us,\u201d Harrison said.<\/p>\n

Mariana Vega and her children Julio and Carlos cheering on their father Julio Gonell. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

A pair of Manhattan women deployed an eye-catching tactic to cheer on their favorite runner.<\/p>\n

Upper West Side physical therapist Cristina Fuentes, 29, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law Lane Pandrok, 59, held up sticks with professional print-outs of Jake Pandrok, 28.<\/p>\n

\u201cJake has six family members coming today, three of them from Arizona,\u201d Fuentes said of her fianc\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Lane Pandrok (left) and Cristina Fuentes holding up cut-outs of Jake Pandrok. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been coming to this spot, it\u2019s kind of like a family spot when anyone runs the marathon in the family. It\u2019s a great spot. And the [print-out] heads are just funny, and they work!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake\u2019s cheering section also donned shirts reading \u201cRun Jake, Run! New York Marathon 2026,\u201d as they cheered the competitors turning off the Queensboro Bridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis spot is also great because the energy from the runners coming off the bridge right here is just incredible,\u201d Fuentes said.<\/p>\n

A group of fans from Germany also stood out by wearing red arrows over their heads to direct runners to the finish line.<\/p>\n

Anja Wahner, a real-estate broker from Berlin, came with her brother Christian Wahner, 42 and his girlfriend Wenke Nieswandt, 40, both from Hamburg, to cheer on Anja\u2019s boyfriend running his first Big Apple marathon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bought these [arrows] in Hamburg,\u201d Anja said. \u201cNo one here has ever seen this before. Everyone is smiling at us and pointing and asking, \u2018Where did you get this? How did you think this up?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

After soaking in the frenetic First Avenue scene, runners made their way up to The Bronx before coming back down into Central Park for the race\u2019s famous final push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mile 15 is famously the loneliest stretch of the New York City Marathon, where runners trade the rowdy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,57,9,24,2790,63,466,58],"class_list":["post-389986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-marathon","tag-nyc","tag-upper-east-side","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389986","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=389986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}