Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany eying consecutive NYC Marathon titles
NEW YORK – At Sunday's 45th running of the New York City Marathon, favorable conditions might make all the difference for last year's winner Wilson Kipsang of Kenya.
Kipsang won the race, his first New York City Marathon, in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 55 seconds but high winds and 42 degrees on the thermometer kept the former world record holder from breaking the course record of 2 hours, 5 minutes and six seconds set by Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai in 2011.
This year, more agreeable weather means the course record is in sight as Kipsang aims to be the first man to win two consecutive titles since his countryman John Kagwe did it in 1997-1998.
At 7 a.m. it was 55 degrees with cloudy skies and an occasional light drizzle; winds are expected to stay below 10 per hour throughout the race. Kipsang, the only man to have run sub 2 hours, 5 minutes six times including once this year in London, said Thursday perfect marathon weather is between 50 and 64 degrees.
In the women's race, Kenya's Mary Keitany also looks to earn back-to-back titles for the first time since Paula Radcliffe in 2007-2008.
Keitany is the second-fastest female marathoner of all time and won the 2014 race in 2 hours, 25 minutes and seven seconds; both she and Kipsang are competing for the $100,000 first-place prize.
Challenging Kipsang and Keitany's consecutive-title quests are some of 2015's leading marathoners.
Reigning Boston Marathon champion and last year's runner-up in New York Lelisa Desisa of Ethipoia will be gunning for the men's title. The 2015 Boston champ Caroline Rotich as well as the 2015 London champ Tigist Tufa are Keitany's main competition on the women's side.
In the wheelchair division, 2015 London and Boston champion American Tatyana McFadden goes for her third consecutive New York City Marathon title and her fourth overall.
As always, celebrities will be among the 50,000 expected starters. This year's big names include Alicia Keys and retired tennis pro James Blake, and acclaimed director Spike Lee will serve as the race's Grand Marshal.
Lee, the first native New Yorker to serve as Grand Marshal, will lead about runners through the city's five boroughs in a 1969 Chrysler 300 SL wrapped in the marathon's colors, according to Runner's World.
Other names to know for Sunday's race are Geoffrey Kamworor, a 22-year-old Kenyan who won the half marathon at Worlds this summer and boasts a 2 hour, six minute and 12 second personal record and Bronx-based Ethiopian runner and two-time runner up Buzunesh Deba.
Deba is looking for her first major marathon victory, but her confidence is still shaken after injuring her knee in June.
Sunday's marathon is also an anniversary for New York favorite Meb Keflezighi – the American is running his 10th New York City Marathon but his first in the over-40 "masters" division. A 2004 silver medalist, Keflezighi is one of 17 Olympians running Sunday including Kipsang (2012 bronze) and Keitany (2014 fourth place).
The professional women start at 9:20 a.m. and the men follow at 9:50 a.m. Coverage begins on ESPN2 at 9 a.m.