The Top Moments From the 2018 NYC Marathon

For the first time in New York Marathon history, an American man finished first in the men’s wheelchair division. Twenty-year-old Daniel Romanchuk, a 2016 Paralympian, earned his second marathon win in under a month, after just edging out defending champion Marcel Hug in Chicago.

In New York, he earned the victory by finishing in 1:36:21—one second before Hug, and tied the record for the youngest man ever to win that division.

Despite his victory in Chicago, he wasn’t expecting a repeat in New York: “I always go into a race with a plan on how to come out on my best, but I never set a goal to expect to win,” he said after the race.

In the female division, defending champ Manuela Schar of Switzerland finished first with a time of 1:50:27, 21 seconds in front of American Tatyana McFadden.

Four-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi ran his first NYC Marathon as a citizen runner in 2018. He competed with the New York Road Runners’ Team for Kids charity program. He crossed the finish in an (easy for him) 3:10:34 alongside fellow notables like restaurateur Daniel Humm.

While Mary Keitany of Kenya broke the tape for her fourth New York City Marathon win with a time of 2:22:48, the American women combined for one of their top showings overall in years. Four American women placed in the top seven, with defending champion Shalane Flanagan taking third with a time of 2:26:22, which was more than 30 seconds faster than her finish when she won the race last year. Molly Huddle placed fourth with a personal best of 2:26:44, Boston Marathon champ Desiree Linden took sixth with 2:27:51, and Allie Kieffer in seventh with 2:28:12.

In January of 2009, air traffic controller Patrick Harten heard the mayday call: “Hit birds, lost both engines, turning back to LaGuardia.” It was just the start in Harten’s role in the “Miracle on the Hudson,” the term used to describe how pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger safely landed the distressed plane on the Hudson River, allowing all passengers onboard to survive.

Harten credits his background running for helping him keep his cool in stressful situations, and on November 4, he completed his fifth marathon—and his first at New York. While injuries hindered his training program, he still completed his 26.2 miles in 4:38:42. And when he reached the finish line, he received an even more special reward: Sully was there to place the New York Marathon finisher’s medal around his neck.

She was the surprise second-place finisher at this year’s Boston Marathon, and now Sarah Sellers can add a PR to her list of accomplishments for the year. The nurse anesthetist from Tucson, Arizona, went into the NYC race with a stated goal to run faster than 2:37, which is the Olympic marathon “A” standard qualifying time (her Boston time met the “B” standard to qualify for the trials). She did just that by clocking a 2:36:37 time, coming in 18th place overall.

Ten years ago, Anthony Butler lost his vision as a result of a shooting. He turned to running to cope with the loss, and a few years ago, became involved with Achilles International, a group that pairs disabled athletes with trainers.

Butler, now 30, was paired with 28-year-old sighted runner Jessie Rix, and there was an immediate connection. Their friendship turned to dating, and they fell in love.

After several half marathons and marathons together (including the Brooklyn Half, as pictured), they both signed up for NYC. This time, they decided to run separately: Butler with three other guides, and Rix as a guide for her friend, visually-impaired athlete Alison Lynch. While Butler and Rix run the majority of their races together, they still make time to complete some races apart—which allows them to reach individual goals and to maintain other relationships with friends in the running community, Rix told Runner’s World.

Next up for Butler and Rix? The Houston Half Marathon in January, which they will be running together.

Jennifer Swenson and her teenage daughter, Marit, were training for the Disney Princess Half Marathon last year when Marit started complaining of headaches. She was eventually diagnosed with a type of brain tumor called a glioma. Despite treatment including surgery and radiation, the 16-year-old lost her battle in August of 2017.

Swenson continued to run to process her grief, and was inspired by Rik Zortman’s story of running routes that spelled out his late son’s name. So to get ready to run NYC this year, Swenson ran a 9-mile route that spelled out “Marit.” She finished the race today in 4:39:18 in her daughter’s honor.

A champion at shorter distances, 43-year-old Bernard Lagat made his marathon debut as he crossed the finish line in 2:17:20 to place 18th. That time was off the marathon masters record set by Meb Keflezighi in 2016, which was Lagat’s stated goal.

The American men overall had a solid day by placing four in the top 10, with Jared Ward leading the pack in sixth place in a time of 2:12:24. After the 2016 Olympics, Lagat switched full-time to road racing, and won the U.S. 10K title in July. His half marathon best of 1:02:00, set in January, is the pending U.S. masters record.

In 2003, Julie Creffield was running a 3K fun run when a young boy shouted, “Run, Fatty, Run!” as she passed by him. At the time, she was around 280 pounds, and she knew she needed to make a change: The very next day, she signed up for the London Triathlon, which she later completed, as she detailed on her blog The Fat Girl’s Guide to Guide to Running.

But it wasn’t until six years later that she started to take her training seriously—she set her sight on a marathon. Still, her doctor told her she was too fat to run, as she told The Nation. But she buckled down on her training and proved him wrong: Finishing New York in 6:56:10, she’s now completed her fourth marathon.

Edie Perkins was a seven-time veteran of the New York City Marathon—posting a personal best of 2:52:44 in 2005—when a cycling accident last April crushed her spinal cord at the T5 vertebra and left her paralyzed from the chest down.

But she was determined not to let her accident stop her: After she returned from the hospital and rehab, her friends pitched in and bought her a handcycle. Soon, she began training for her first race, and set her sights on the marathon. She chose New York, the same race she loved as a runner. Perkins finished in 2:43:20. New York Road Runners believes that will make her the first woman to complete New York both as a runner and a handcyclist.

After a 150-foot fall off a cliff left her partially paralyzed, Hannah Gavios decided she wouldn’t let that keep her from accomplishing amazing things. The former runner picked the NYC Marathon as a proving ground, saying she would do the entire course on her crutches. “It might take 12 hours, but I don’t think that matters. That’s not the point,” Gavios told Runner’s World before the race. Shown in this video, Gavios crossed the finish line well before that in a time of 11 hours, 20 minutes, and 32 seconds... well ahead of her stated goal.