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TCS NYC MARATHONNovember 7, 2016Chris WeillerPeter CiacciaMichael CapirasoNew York, New York CHRIS WEILLER: One last call to attention for our press availability for the 2016 marathon. For the last time, Chris Weiller up here at the podium. It was an exciting day yesterday. Just wanted to give you a couple of quick facts. Correction on the number that I gave you yesterday on the total number of starters, which was a record for us and a record for the world in a marathon, 51,995 total starters. That is a New York City Marathon record and a record for the world in marathons. We also had a record on finishers. Total number of finishers, a record for the New York City Marathon as well as a record for marathons throughout the world. We remain the largest marathon in the world. 51,388 finishers. Pretty amazing day yesterday -- great day, great weather day, just a great running day. Without further ado, let's take a look at that day. As a matter of fact, let's take a look at the entire week leading up and yesterday in the video we have right here. [ Video played.] CHRIS WEILLER: Please welcome the TCS New York City Marathon race director and president of events of New York Road Runners Peter Ciaccia. PETER CIACCIA: Good morning. You know it was a good day when I show up with a Barry White voice. It was a great day. Before we start diving in, I want to give a big shout out to the New York Road Runners staff that puts this entire event on. [ Applause.] They work tirelessly all year long for this moment. I think it was just a stellar, stellar week for us here. And when we say stellar, I really mean it. Off the charts. We're going to introduce our champions in just a few minutes, but a champion is not just about what a champion does on the field of play but what they do off the field that really counts too. All of our champions here are part of what we do here at New York Road Runners on a year round basis with our communities. We have Team for Kids ambassadors as part of our champions, who are Team for Kids ambassadors, which is our program to support our youth programs. And also, you saw on Friday we had the TCS Run With Champions, which was a great event out here by the finish line of the marathon, with all our kids running up and down the course with the champions coming out and greeting them and running with them. It was just fantastic to see. It was so exciting. We were also excited to highlight our new program with our youth wheelchair program, which we're putting into place now. We're starting to see that roll out for us. We've worked on this for quite some time now, and Tatyana has been so gracious to donate one of her racing wheelchairs to the program. We're really excited about it. We hope it builds to the size of the program that we have for the Mighty Milers, which is our running program here. But as far as yesterday goes, I don't know if we could script a more perfect day. We dialed up the weather. It was just a perfect day overall. As you heard from Chris, record day in number of finishes, over 51,000-plus, and including our Youth Invitational, which was running up to the finish line as we were on the broadcast. We have some of the champions here from the Youth Invitational. We had over 600 kids participate in that. So the platform allows us, again, to tell the story of what we do here at New York Road Runners. But as far as the professional race goes, it was storybook for us. Mary Keitany, three times, the threepeat here, accomplishing that. Grete did that 30 years ago. So that's a big moment for us here to see that happen. Winning the TCS New York City Marathon three times is really special. Tatyana, four times champion here on the course. Tremendous, tremendous performance on her part. And, of course, we had the debut of Molly Huddle here, which was really special for us all, coming in and making the podium. As well as our old friend who's been with us for a long time, running many, many races here from 10Ks to half marathons, and getting on the podium was just heartwarming to see, Mr. Abdi Abdirahman, a great athlete and just a great overall guy. I had a blast with our U.S. Olympic Marathon Team champions as Grand Marshals. And to call out Ghirmay, the youngest athlete here, the youngest to ever win the TCS New York City Marathon, which is great. We had a little party last night, a reception for everybody, and I think he got carded by the bartender. He wasn't allowed to drink here in New York. So when he comes back here next year, we'll make sure that he can have a beer with us. Again, we had a great race. It's not about how big the race is. It is about the experience that we deliver here, and that's really important to us, a really safe race, and the runners felt that as they traversed the whole course. It was a terrific day indeed. I stand out and see -- I have the privilege of standing out and starting this race on the bridge. It's just awesome. Then coming back to the finish line and seeing our champions come through, and we stay from the first to the very last. That's why I don't have a voice. Our last finisher came in about a quarter to 10:00 last night. That's sort of an honored tradition we've been doing for many years. And it's just thrilling to give that experience to the last runners. It's very heartwarming to see those folks come in as well. Again, my partner in all of this, Michael Capiraso, our President and CEO, running his 20th consecutive New York City Marathon was really special indeed. Just before, I got to drape the medal around his neck, which I wasn't able to do yesterday at the finish line, but I was glad to be able to do that today. So thank you all for coming. Thank you to our great athletes, just coming here and supporting us and putting on the performances that you did yesterday and for all the media supports us as well on marathon day and all year. I'd like to bring up Michael. [ Applause ] MICHAEL CAPIRASO: Good morning, everyone. The reason Peter couldn't drape the medal around my neck yesterday is I could barely stand up as I crossed the finish line. I was kind of hunched over. I want to thank Peter Ciaccia, who's the best race director there is. He's an amazing partner and makes lot of what you see happen yesterday. I greatly appreciate it because it provides me the opportunity to run. So thank you, Peter, very much. Welcome, everyone. Congratulations. We have a lot of champions here, finished in the top three. I finished 10,916. So they brought me here to kind of balance it out a little bit, to show how we have a lot of people that just kind of finish across the board. We're excited for all 51,000 that finished this year. Congratulations for making this so special to us and to you. It was an amazing day. It's been an amazing week. As Peter said, our mission at New York Road Runners is to help and inspire people through running. You as top performers, you as champions help inspire some of the folks who are important to us, which is the next generation of runners. We have a few of the winners from our Youth Invitational here, who you'll meet later on. I also just want to take a moment to thank our partners. It's impossible to do this without the great partnerships we have. TCS is an incredible partner for us all year long, who supports the New York Road Runners. One of the highlights of yesterday was the mobile app, which far exceeded our goal. We had over 315,000 people download the mobile app and track our 51,000 runners, including a number of you across the way. So I want to thank them, and also I want to put a special thanks to our partner ASICS, who's been amazing this year. Actually, this morning I went out and ran the final mile. For some reason, we came up with the idea to run one more mile this program, called the extra mile. So I went out and ran this morning to support Girls on the Run, which is a very special thing to do as well. I'm very excited about an incredible year. I want to thank you for being part of it, and we welcome you to come back and run with us again in the future. Thank you so much. CHRIS WEILLER: All right. Let's meet our champions. Once again, we'll meet our race winners, our male and female champions and wheelchair champions. We'll take a photo with Peter and Michael, and we'll bring everyone else up, introduce them as well. After finishing fourth in the Rio 2016 Olympic marathon this summer, at 20 years and 350-some-odd days, this athlete became the youngest men's champion in the history of the New York City Marathon on Sunday. His winning time of 2:07:51 was the fastest marathon on American soil this year and third fastest winning time in the history of this race. Please welcome the TCS New York City Marathon professional men's runner champion, Ghirmay Gebrselassie. [ Applause ] On Sunday, this athlete became the first runner to win a third consecutive New York City Marathon title in 30 years. Two years ago, she had to sprint for a three-second victory. Last year she pulled away at mile 20 to win by 1 minute, 7 seconds. Yesterday she surged ahead early at mile 14 to finish the course on a solo run and win in 2:24:26. Her margin of victory at 3:34 was the largest in the professional women's race here in New York since 1980. Please welcome your three-time New York City Marathon champion, the threepeater, Mary Keitany. [ Applause ] After dueling is out for 26.2 miles, this wheelchair racer won his second title in New York City yesterday by a whisker. He took the crown by .06 second in 1:35.49 to win his sixth consecutive Abbott World Marathon Major scored race this year, which is unprecedented for a men's wheelchair racer. In 2016, he won Boston, London, the Rio Paralympic gold medal, Chicago, Berlin, and the New York City Marathons. Please welcome the Swiss Silver Bullet Marcel Hug. [ Applause ] This next athlete is a familiar face to the New York City spotlight. She's an NYRR Team for Kids ambassador, who yesterday won her fourth consecutive and fifth overall New York City Marathon title. She has now won the London, Boston, Chicago, and New York City Marathons each of the last four years. The 17-time Paralympic medalist paced the lead pack yesterday before using her favorite hill at mile 16 to pull away for another victory, winning in 1:47:13. She is now tied with Edith Hunkeler and Kurt Fearnley for the most New York City Marathon victories by a wheelchair racer. Please welcome the five-time New York City Marathon Champion Tatyana McFadden. [ Applause ] Ladies and gentlemen, your 2016 TCS New York City Marathon champions! [ Applause ] Athletes, please stay up there while we meet the rest of our champions. Five U.S. men finished in the top five at yesterday's race, the most since 2009. Next up is a four-time U.S. Olympian, who at age 39 was the American in that group who took third place overall. His time of 2:11:23 was his fastest finish in six appearances here dating back to 2004. It was also the highest finish by an American man since Meb Keflezighi won the race in 2009. Please welcome Abdi Abdirahman! [ Applause.] There were also three Americans who finished in the top ten on the women's side on Sunday, including our NYRR Team for Kids ambassador, who was making her marathon debut. Less than three months after setting the American record at 10,000 meters at the Rio 2016 Olympics, this athlete recorded the highest finish by an American women since Shalane Flanagan finished second in 2010. Her time of 2:28:13 is the third best marathon performance by an American woman in 2016. Please welcome your top American woman yesterday, Molly Huddle. [ Applause.] And now moving on to our next generation of stars, before more than 50,000 adults took on the five boroughs of the TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, 600 students had the chance to run through the same finish line. They ran 1.8 miles through Central Park and the NYRR Invitational early on in the morning prior to all the athletes taking off from the Staten Island start at the Verrazano. Here today with us is a 17-year-old from the Quality Charter School in the Bronx, who won the male youth race yesterday in 10:17. Please help us congratulate Darius Gordon! [ Applause.] And finally, this 10-year-old from the Dock Street School of STEAM Studies in Brooklyn. She took the tape in the female youth race in 11:03. Please welcome Rainn Sheppard! [ Applause.] Here they are, ladies and gentlemen, your winners across the board from the TCS New York City Marathon yesterday here in New York City. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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