Sandy was the only runner who took part in 2012 New York City Marathon.

A couple of weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy struck the East Cost of the United States, mainly the city of New York, the economic capital of the country. This natural disaster has generated social and economic consequences: a few days after Sandy, the number of victims was significant and some specialists have estimated that the damage caused would cost $20 billion. Another consequence was the cancellation of the 43^rd edition of the famous annual New York city Marathon.

Every year, about 47, 000 participants run through the five boroughs of the Big Apple but this year it’s the first time that this event hasn’t taken place. The reason is named Sandy, the hurricane which had devastated the city in just one night. At first, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, announced that the marathon would still take place because, according to him, this race represents “the New York spirit”. But after a biting polemic, he finally cancelled it by saying that “the maintaining of the marathon has given rise to controversy and divisions”.

Why The New York City Marathon should have been maintained? The New York City Marathon yields a profit of about 300 million dollars each year and, after the crossing of Sandy, the city particularly needs it. Furthermore, the marathon sponsors have already promised $1.5 million in donations for the victims of the hurricane and even the club which organizes the race, the New York Road Runners, wanted to raise funds to help New York citizens. People who should have come from all over the world to run the marathon, and who were waiting impatiently for the event, wanted it to happen. Actually, the event requires a great deal of planning from foreign participants, not only with the plane tickets and hotel reservations, but also with the entry fees. And the cost of these hasn’t even been reimbursed while it represents 270 euros for foreigners and 200 euros for American citizens. It was a significant waste of money for the marathon runners, especially when we add to that the difficulty of getting reimbursed for the hotel cancellation.

Why there was such a controversy? A few days before the start of the marathon, 570 000 homes were still without electricity and the victims didn’t want first-aid workers or policemen to be diverted from helping them because of the event. For Sandy’s victims the priority was to repair the damage and to get access to electricity again. Using the electric power for the marathon rather than for the victims was scandalous, and it was this thought which led to the polemic. Spending money on an event rather than repairing the damage caused by Sandy raised the question of what the city’s priorities were.

 

What was the final word? After the announcement of the marathon's cancellation, most of New York's citizens were relieved, but some runners have decided to still run the “non-official” race despite the situation. 2012 will still be a year that will be permanently printed in the story of the New York City Marathon.

Ophélie T