9 Moments from 2025 NYC Marathon

MUSINGS FROM A COACH - 18 NOVEMBER '25

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a couple of weeks and am finally getting to it!

There was a fun article published in Run (Outside Online) titled, "9 Moments That Made the 2025 New York City Marathon Pure Magic”, that really represents all the amazing accomplishments of so many people that occur in each and every endurance race nowadays. Of course, you can read the entire article, but I’ve listed the 9 “Moments” with a summary below as a shorter alternative. Enjoy!

1. Hellen Obiri closed in a sub-5 mile to win. Hellen ran a smart race, breaking away from the pack at mile 19 with the three most recent NYC women’s winners. Then on mile 25, she ran a 5:04 min/mile followed by a closing 26th 4:58 min/mile - AMAZING!

2. The men’s race came down to 0.03 seconds—the closest finish in history. Kenya’s Benson Kipruto and Alexander Mutiso raced it out to the line - seemingly finishing in a tie after 26.4 miles. But it was Kipruto with the .03 second win. We’re seeing more and more close races in endurance sports now - I think due to modern day nutritional fueling.

3. No sponsor, no problem: Joel Reichow finished as the top American man, 6th overall. Joel, a workhorse in American distance running, has been pushing near the top of the sport over the last few years. It’s great to see his consistency pay off!

4. Fiona O’Keeffe is back. After winning the 2024 Olympic USA Trials, Fiona was disappointed in walking off the Paris course due to injury. She’s back for sure now with a 4th place finish.

5. A record-tying 203 women broke 3 hours. 2 years in a row - the exact same number. Athletes are getting faster (see nutrition comment above).

6. Wicked’s Fiyero performed twice on Marathon Sunday—after running the race. A cool story for sure - Jordan Litz ran the NYC marathon (3:40:53) and THEN did the 2pm AND 7pm performance of Wicked on Broadway as Prince Fiyero. Heck Yea!

7. A 91-year-old finished. Koichi Kitabatake from Japan didn’t start running until he was in his 70’s! He hopes to be back next year to break the record.

8. Eliud Kipchoge announced his next adventure. Eliud, the GOAT, finished 17th and succinctly talked about his transition from winning podium’s: “A successful race is certainly starting and finishing in a good way, a happy way, able to entertain people,” he said. “That’s a successful race. I don’t measure success by winning. I measure success by the thing that I am finishing. I measure success by closing and crossing the finish line.”

9. You can’t watch the final finisher without shedding a tear. Although the NYC marathon technically finishes at the 10 hour mark, people keep running. Juan Pablo Dos Santos, a Venezuelan amputee became the final finisher at 12:34am (15:21 finishing time) crossing the line with bystanders singing the Venezuelan national anthem. :) Mark

CEO Team MPI