New York City Marathon 2008 - As It Happens

On this page: Men's Race | Women's Race | Wheelchair Races

The 39th Running of the New York City Marathon - As It Happens

We're onsite at the New York City Marathon and will be commenting on the race - as it happens. If you haven't yet, read the preview article and the past performance information - so you know who the players are. Then, return to this page and refresh often. We'll have photos and post-race writeups after the race is over.

Refresh this page every few minutes to see the latest updates. We'll have all of the updates for all races on this one page - trying to make it as easy as possible for our readers to see what's happening.

Note, as you read these reports, they will appear in reverse chronological order. Newest updates will be at the top of each section.

Men's Race | Women's Race | Wheelchair Races

Overview
The races are over and we're working on our post-race writeups and interviewing the runners now, so watch for our postrace commentaries later this afternoon.

Men's Race back to top

The Finish:
Marilson Gomes dos Santos - 2:08:43
Abderrahim Goumri - 2:09:07
Daniel Rono - 2:11:22
Paul Tergat - 2:13:10
Abderrahime Bouramdane - 2:13:33

Mile 26 (2:07:37)
Wow, wow, wow...
dos Santos has come out of nowhere to zoom past Goumri - and Goumri can not respond. dos Santos looks back over his right shoulder, back over his left shoulder - he is building a lead, but can't believe it. dos Santos is running and Goumri is doing his best, but he can do nothing but hope for the runner-up spot, which should be his... again... Goumri's 26th mile: 5:12, dos Santos' 26th mile: 4:47 - amazing...

Mile 23 (1:52:48), Mile 24 (1:57:49), Mile 25 (2:02:43)
Abderrahim Goumri is seven seconds ahead - he seems the apparent winner. Marilson Gomes dos Santos is in second. Daniel Rono looks comfortably in third and Paul Tergat appears to be about to finish fourth.

Mile 22 (1:48:02).
Goumri is pulling away. He has a three second lead on dos Santos, but looks good...

Mile 19 (1:33:50), Mile 20 (1:38:37), Mile 21 (1:43:19)
The race is still a two man race, Abderrahim Goumri is working hard to win and not settle for second place again. Marilson Gomes dos Santos is pushing hard for his second win at the New York City Marathon. Daniel Rono is now 23 seconds back and Paul Tergat is just behind in fourth place.

Mile 16 (1:20:38??), Mile 17 (1:24:32??), Mile 18 (1:29:14)
The lead pack is falling apart a bit... Goumri and Rono lead, Marilson Gomes dos Santos is near the front, Paul Tergat is still in the mix. Kirui, Rotich and Macharia have been falling back.

Mile 15 (1:15:05), 25K (1:17:46)
The pack is now eight men. Abel Kirui has been mostly setting the pace for the race, with Abderrahim Goumri the man who actually set the surge who broke apart the field. Also in the lead pack are Hendrick Ramaala, Paul Tergat, Daniel Rono, Isaac Macharia, Abderrahime Bouramdane, Marilson Gomes dos Santos and Hosea Rotich.

Mile 11 (55:41), Mile 12 (1:00:30), 20K (1:02:41) Mile 13 (1:05:30), Halfway (1:06:06), Mile 14 (1:10:11).
After the halfway mark, Abderrahim Goumri started to move and the pack began to pull apart. We'll know what's going to happen in the next couple of miles.

Mile 7 (35:30), Mile 8 (40:46), Mile 9 (45:39), 15K (47:12), Mile 10 (50:32)
The field remains large. We count 13 men, but it's hard to tell... Abdirahman has been re-absorbed into the pack. All of the favorites remain in this pack.

Mile 6 (30:31), 10K (31:38)
Wow! Abdi Abdirahman has run off the front. He is moving away - it is too early to do this, so perhaps Abdi is testing the field, or testing himself.

Mile 4 (20:32), Mile 5 (25:43)
Abdi Abdirahman has taken the lead at mile 4, but Hendrick Ramaala has moved into the lead. Ramaala is often a frontrunner and it is not surprising that he will be the one who will work to set the pace.

Mile 1 (5:26), Mile 2 (10:39), Mile 3 (15:45), 5K (16:19)
Over the bridge, Carney and Rohatinsky stay at the front. But right befind are about 20 men. The race won't break up for a while...

The men's race has started - we expect that there will be no significant moves for a while and there will be few updates. Immediately, James Carney has run away from the field, but we expect that is just to get some TV time. Rohatinsky has stepped up to join Carney.

Women's Race back to top

The Finish:
Paula Radcliffe - 2:23:56
Ludmila Petrova - 2:25:43
Kara Goucher - 2:25:53
Rita Jeptoo - 2:27:49
Catherine Ndereba - 2:29:14

What some of these times mean:
Paula Radcliffe wins her third New York City Marathon, more than any other woman since Grete Waitz.
Kara Goucher is the first American woman to finish in the top three since Anne Marie Letko's third place finish in 1994.
Kara Goucher runs the fastest time for an American at New York ever and sets a new Record for an American debut at the marathon (beating Deena Kastor's 2001 debut of 2:26:58)
Ludmila Petrova's time is a new world Masters record

Mile 26 (2:22:45)
Radcliffe alone. Petrova is gaining time on Goucher who is now seven seconds behind her. They both seem to be shuffling a bit - wow, that must have hurt.

Mile 25 (2:17:26)
Radcliffe is 1:22 ahead of Petrova who is four seconds ahead of Goucher... First place is set - Radcliffe is amazing! Second place will between the 40 year old veteran and the 30 year old debutante.

Mile 22 (2:01:25), Mile 23 (2:06:40), Mile 24 (2:12:12)
Radcliffe has opened a 24 second lead on Petrova who is in second place and Goucher is eight seconds back - she made up five seconds on Petrova in the 24th mile. Tune is currently in fourth place more than 1:30 behind Goucher. The finish will be Radcliffe and then ??? (Goucher or Petrova).

Mile 21 (1:56:13)
Two women at the front, Radliffe looks super strong - she will win, again... Unless something incredible happens. Petrova is holding on, but she looks like she is tiring. While Goucher was the first to fall out of the lead pack, she seems to be faring better than Tune or Wami, and Goucher is now in third place - she may end up challenging for second. Radcliffe wins (we think), but who can hold on in the next five miles - will it be Petrova or Goucher in second place?

Mile 17 (1:34:47??), Mile 18 (1:40:07), Mile 19 (1:45:27), Mile 20 (1:50:55).
At mile 19, the women are looking the same, but just after 19, Goucher has cracked. She is well off the back. Dire Tune is the second to fall back. There are three in the front now, Racdliffe, Petrova and Wami. Oops - Wami is off the back - it is now a two person race, Paula Radcliffe and Ludmilla Petrova.

Mile 16 (1:30:14??)
Off the bridge and onto 1st Avenue, Paula Radcliffe is starting to push the pace and the field almost breaks open. Ludmila Petrova sticks with Radliffe the best, Goucher maintains contact. Eventually, with Radcliffe leading, the pack reforms. Rita Jeptoo is not able to stay with the surge and falls back. The pack is down to five, Radcliffe, Goucher, Petrova, Wami and Tune.

Mile 14 (1:18:14), Mile 15 (1:23:49)
The women are running over the 59th Street bridge. That is one of the major hills on the course, and in a couple of miles after this, we'll expect teh race to really heat up. The women all look like they are working pretty hard. We see Rita Jeptoo beginning to fall back. Kara Goucher - looks strong, but we can see on her face that she is starting to think: "I beat Paula at a Half Marathon, but we've already run further than that..." Hmmm - there will be a long time to continue to think, but we believe...

Mile 12 (1:07:19), 20K (1:09:41), Mile 13 (1:12:47), Halfway (1:13:23)
The field has dropped down to six. Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Ludmila Petrova, Gete Wami, Dire Tune and Rita Jeptoo. Catherine Ndereba has fallen back. She should not be that far back - she will often fall back a bit, but this is too far. Perhaps her Silver medal performance at the Olympics has taken too much out of her legs.

Mile 10 (56:25), Mile 11 (1:01:55)
Paula continues to lead with Kara Goucher right behind and the pack remaining single file as described at the last miles. Kim Smith has dropped off the back.

Mile 7 (39:54), Mile 8 (45:32), Mile 9 (51:00), 15K (52:44)
The women are running in single file - perhaps letting Radcliffe break the wind and then the rest tucking into her slipstream. The ten women running, in order, are: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Dire Tune, Gete Wami, Rita Jeptoo, Ludmila Petrova, Lyubov Morgunova, Catherine Ndereba and Kim Smith.

Mile 4 (23:09), Mile 5 (28:46), Mile 6 (34:20), 10K (35:33). Kara Goucher has missed her water bottle, but then runs to the front and is leading the field for a period of time. Paula again moves to the front - this seems to be the way that the race will continue.

Mile 1 (6:31), Mile 2 (11:54), Mile 3 (17:30), 5K (18:04). At the water station, Kara Goucher shortly runs to the front - she looks strong. Soon after, Paula, regains her spot as the leader and pacesetter. The field has now shrunk to 9 women.

The women's race began at 9:10AM ET as schedule. From the beginning, Paula Radcliffe is setting the pace in the lead - Kara Goucher is just behind, but the lead pack appears to have about 17 women in it.. We're told that Tegla Loroupe did not start because she had the flu - we didn't expect her to be in the running for a top finish in any case.

Wheelchair Race back to top

The wheelchair race has ended. Kurt Fearnly broke away from the others at 15K and continued alone to the finish. Fearnley wins in 1:44:51, Masazumi Soejima finishes second in 1:46:10 and Aaron Gordian is third in 1:46:57.

In the women's wheelchair race, Edith Hunkeler is the champion in 2:06:42. Amanda Mcgrory is second in 2:11:25.

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