New York City Marathon Wins Award; Gives Back

The ING New York City Marathon received a huge honor back in May when the Sports Business Journal named its annual award winners at its awards event held at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. The Marathon was picked as the Sports Event of the Year over the likes of the NBA All-Star Game, the NCAA Final Four and the Winter X-Games.

In her acceptance of the honor NYRR President and CEO Mary Wittenberg thanked all participatory runners and dedicated the award to the late Grete Waitz, the nine-time NYC Marathon winner who passed away in April.

Wittenberg had this to say:

"Four years ago, when we hosted the Olympic Trials, I really felt, 'Oh man, we should have been nominated.' The last few years, I kept thinking that's a big goal and we should be nominated, so when we were, we were thrilled. When we got here I thought, 'When you look at 2010, so much came together in that year's marathon. I think we can win this thing.'"

And just for fun, the New York Road Runners are doing this all over again on Nov. 6 when the ING New York City Marathon welcomes another 45,000 or so runners. This year, with the help of Crowdrise, organizers also plan to raise $1 million per mile for charity. Take a look.