The 2013-14 World Marathon Majors championship is set to wrap up on Sunday with the 44th running of the New York City Marathon. This marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors courses (alongside Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, London and Chicago), and it’s been run every year since 1970, with the lone exception of the 2012 season. That race was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.
New York City Marathon 2014 preview: Star-studded field gets set for the final race of the season
Geoffrey Mutai, Wilson Kipsang, Meb Keflezighi and Lelisa Desisa are just a few of the big names gearing up for Sunday’s New York City Marathon.
Rich Schultz
Kenyan runner Geoffrey Mutai has won the last two times the race was held, setting a course record of 2:05:06 in 2011. But the defending champion s currently ranked No. 9 in the WMM standings. Dennis Kimetto is the current leader with 75 points, a full 20 points above Tsegaye Kebede in second. Rita Jeptoo won both the 2013 and 2014 iterations of the Boston and Chicago marathons and was set to be crowned on the women’s side, but news about a positive drug test for a banned substance has postponed Sunday’s ceremony.
Much of the focus for this race is on Mutai, who is looking to be just the third man to win three consecutive times in New York. Wilson Kipsang is also getting plenty of attention. The Kenyan ranks third in the overall standings with 51 points and the storyline, at this point, focuses on both Mutai and Kipsang angling for course records.
An American hasn’t won the race since Meb Keflezighi in 2009, and an American woman hasn’t crossed the finish line in front since 1977. But with the Jeptoo doping scandal, that aspect of the race just got that much more exciting. Mary Keitany is one of the favorites to that end, with two third-place finishes in New York. She may be a bit rusty however, as she has not run a marathon since the London Olympics.
The men’s side has other contenders worth mentioning -- like 2013 Boston champ Lelisa Desisa, or the aforementioned Keflezighi, who will be running it this year. Stephen Kiprotich, celebrated Olympian, will be a factor as well. It’s the most star-studded race of the season and promises to be the most contentious you’ll find all year.
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