The 2010 ING New York City Marathon raised more than $30 million for charity, the biggest haul in the marathon's history, race officials announced Wednesday.
Nearly $20 million was for New York City-based programs, said Mary Wittenberg, chief executive of New York Road Runners, which organizes the race. She has been on a campaign to get more local charities involved in the marathon as a way to leverage the event's economic impact throughout the city.
This year's race had about 8,000 people running for more than 190 charities, surpassing last year's event, in which 6,700 runners raised about $24 million for 92 charities. NYRR officials had targeted a fundraising goal of $26.2 million for this year's race, to match the number of miles in a marathon. They did not expect to surpass that, given the recession.
“This year's marathon was off the charts,” said Ms. Wittenberg. “Clearly, we have tapped into a desire of many runners to run for a purpose beyond themselves.”
The New York City Marathon is one of the most coveted tickets in the marathon world, and as more runners apply, it's become harder to get into. More than 120,000 hopefuls applied this year for about 40,000 spaces, according to NYRR. The marathon is capped due to course restrictions.
Charity slots, which this year required a runner to meet a minimum fundraising commitment of $2,500, have become an increasingly popular way to avoid the nail-biting lottery process that NYRR uses to dole out race numbers.
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