 |
| |
|
A SHIFTING RAINBOW of runners, stretching into the horizon, fills the gap between two metal barriers at the 72nd Street Transverse in Central Park on April 24. There are more than 5,000 of them, of every age, ethnicity and skill level imaginable. It’s 8:59 a.m. and the runners are shaking their feet, rolling their heads and shoulders, and taking deep breaths of anticipation. The sun just disappeared overhead and the air has turned moist, but the runners don’t seem to notice. They stare straight ahead, wait for the high-pitched horn to sound and, when it does, burst ahead. So begins the third annual Thomas Labrecque Classic – a 4-mile race that is one of the dozens run in the park throughout the year.
|
|
“It's just a
beautiful place to run.”
—Stuart Alexander,
Central Park
Track Club
|
|
Many of these runners feel right at home as they dash east past Bethesda Terrace and turn north up East Drive. Some run in Central Park every day while others come from out of town on race days.
“Some of the best runners in New York come here and it’s just a beautiful place to run,” said Stuart Alexander, 49, of the |
|
|
Central Park Track Club, who finished 22nd in his age group. “Everybody has a great time.”
The runners are racing for better health, and not just their own. All the proceeds from the Thomas Labrecque Classic, named after a former chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Corporation who died of lung cancer in late 2000, go towards research and lung cancer awareness.
Some runners have come out primarily to raise money for the cause, others just want to test themselves against worthy competition and get high on running. Most are here for a healthy combination of the three. Among them is Sidney Howard, a soft-spoken, Bermuda-born New Jersey resident with rockets in his shoes. Six years ago, on his 60th birthday, he set the world record for his age group after running an 800-meter indoor race in 2 minutes and 12.71 seconds. In the Labrecque Classic, Howard beat out thousands of competitors to finish 238th overall, first in his age group.
Afterwards, he is one of the thousands cheering for Matt Downin and Alemtsehay Misganaw, the top finishers among men and women, respectively. Thousands of runners linger around the ceremony, exchanging stories and compliments and discussing the next Central Park race they will participate in.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Related stories |
| |
Softball |
| |
| |
|
Quick facts |
| |
The perimeter of Central Park is a 6-mile run.
There are 58 miles of walking and running paths inside Central Park. |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
