George Hirschfounder of the prestigious New York marathon, the guest of honor at the Zurich Marató Barcelona and in charge of starting the 45th edition. At the age of 89, he still maintains the same passion for marathons that he took in 1970 to organize the first edition of the race in New York, which was run entirely in Central Park and in which 155 runners signed up.
Today, this event has become the most prestigious in the world, with 50,000 participants (the maximum allowed) and more than two million people who take to the streets to celebrate. N.Y It took fifteen years to reach Barcelona’s participation in this last edition with 20,000 bibs sold.
The ‘Big Apple’ has the advantage of being the world’s most powerful city in terms of media, home to major audiovisual corporations and the headquarters of nearly 500 newspapers and 400 magazines. Its latest edition went live in more than 200 countries and reached 540 million homes. The television broadcast has an exciting display with a large device of 45 cameras (fixed, mobile, in cars, motorcycles, ‘cablecams’) that offer a live signal along the 42,195 kilometers of the route and with the support of a fleet of helicopters for aerial photos.
The Zurich Marathon Barcelona It’s far from these numbers, but the growth of the last edition was amazing, with 16,099 reaching the finish line. The new route designed by the organization, which is more central and monumental, was able to bring a larger audience out into the streets also thanks to 26 strategic entertainment point locations.
In addition, it is possible to make a route faster than the previous one, as demonstrated by more than 1,300 runners who managed to drop the demanding 3-hour barrier, a high level time trial – in 2023 there are 650 who are runners, only half of them.
In New York, last year, a total of 1,375 runners reached under 3 hours, with more than double registrations. This figure is even greater if an average time of 3h30′ to complete the test is taken as a reference, because up to 5,000 runners managed to do it faster in Barcelona – compared to 5,753 in New York -. Touring the city of skyscrapers is very demanding, but draws attention for its attractiveness.
Barcelona also stands out for the beauty of its streets, but the winner’s score of 2h05’01 Tadesse Abrahamwas not among the top 30 of last year and it also did not help him to enter the podium of the Seville Marathon held at the end of February and which was won in 2h03’27.
The Catalan marathon managed to attract more than 20,000 participants without appearing on the list of the fastest, whose reference is determined by the winner’s time. A position that does not match the good scores achieved by its riders and shows that the circuit is also very fast and capable of attracting more people if a brilliant victory comes.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
