| 1981 New York City Marathon | |
|---|---|
| Date | 25 October |
| Location |  New York City, NY |
| Event type | Marathon |
| Distance | 42.195 km |
| Edition | 12th |
| Course records | 2:08:12 (1981 men) 2:25.28 (1981 women) |
← 1980 1982 → | |
The 1981 New York City Marathon was the 12th edition of the New York City Marathon and took place in New York City on 25 October. [1]
The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, England. It is the largest marathon in the world, with over 53,700 finishers in 2024, and 840,318 applicants for the 2025 event. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to October for 2020, 2021, and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The largely flat course is set around the River Thames, starting in Blackheath and finishing at The Mall. Hugh Brasher is the current race director and Nick Bitel its chief executive.
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of 42.195 km, usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair divisions. More than 800 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes, as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.
World records in the marathon are ratified by World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics.
The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishers in 2019 and 98,247 applicants for the 2017 race. Along with the Boston Marathon and Chicago Marathon, it is among the pre-eminent long-distance annual running events in the United States and is one of the World Marathon Majors.
Grete Waitz was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz won nine New York City Marathons, women's division, between 1978 and 1988, the highest number of victories in a single big city marathon in history. She won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships.
Joan Benoit Samuelson is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woman at the Chicago Marathon for 32 years after winning the race in 1985. Her time at the Boston Marathon was the fastest time by an American woman at that race for 28 years. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2000.
William Henry Rodgers is an American runner, Olympian, and former record holder in the marathon. Rodgers is best known for his four victories in both the Boston Marathon, including three straight from 1978 to 1980, and 4 straight wins in the New York City Marathon, between 1976 and 1979.
Marathon Oil Corporation is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration incorporated in Ohio and headquartered at 990 Town and Country Boulevard in Houston, Texas. A direct descendant of Standard Oil, it also runs international gas operations focused on Equatorial Guinea, offshore Central Africa.
New York Road Runners (NYRR) is a non-profit running organization based in New York City whose mission is to help and inspire people through running. It was founded in 1958 by Ted Corbitt with 47 members and has since grown to a membership of more than 60,000. As of 2012, it was considered to be the premier running organization in the United States.
Rodney Phillip Dixon is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon.
Peter Dickson Pfitzinger is an American former distance runner, who later became an author, exercise physiologist and sports administrator.
Michiko "Miki" Suwa Gorman was an American marathon runner of Japanese ancestry. Gorman did not begin running competitively until she was in her mid-30s, but rapidly emerged as one of the elite marathoning women of the mid-1970s. She is the only woman to win both the Boston and New York City marathons twice and is the first of only two woman runners to win both marathons in the same year.
Laura Fogli is an Italian former long-distance runner who specialized in the marathon race. She finished ninth at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and sixth at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She also won silver medals at the European Championships in 1982 and 1986, and finished second in the New York City Marathon in 1983 and 1988. Her marathon victories include Rome (1982) and Pittsburgh (1986).
Kimberley Smith is a New Zealand middle-distance and long-distance runner who retired in 2016.
Allison Pamela Roe is a New Zealand politician and former long-distance athlete.
The Frankfurt Marathon is a marathon which has taken place every year in Frankfurt am Main since its inception in 1981. It is the longest-established city marathon in Germany and in terms of the number of finishers, Germany's second-largest. It is organised by the agency motion events.
Patti Catalano Dillon is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set world bests in the half marathon, 30 kilometers, and 20 kilometers.
Kirk Pfeffer is a retired American long-distance runner, who competed in marathons. He won the Enschede Marathon in 1979 in 2:11:50 and America's Finest City Half Marathon in 1981 in 1:02:55. On December 7, 1979 he set a new world record in the half marathon at 1:02:32 in Las Vegas. Next year he ran his best marathon time of 2:10:29 in Fukuoka, which placed him tenth in the World Marathon Rankings for 1980.
Phil Coppess is an American former long-distance runner. Coppess went to high school in Oxford Junction, Iowa where he was a standout runner. Coppess won the State Boy's Outdoor Track & Field 2 mile run in 1971; he won the State Cross Country in 1971; the State Cross Country Individual Mile in 1971; the State Boy's Indoor Track & Field 2 mile run in 1972; and the State Boy's Outdoor Track & Field 2 mile run in 1972.
