RACE NOTES OCTOBER 17- NOVEMBER 1 2020 | ANYWHERE | NYRR.ORG

ABOUT THE RACE The 2020 Virtual TCS returns for a third consecutive year, taking place from October 17 to November 1. It is part of ’ Volvo Virtual Racing Powered by Strava, which allows runners anywhere in the world to run a race at their convenience and location of their choice during a specified period of time.

The 2020 TCS New York City Marathon in-person race, previously set for November 1, was canceled this year due to coronavirus-related health and safety concerns for runners, spectators, volunteers, staff and the many partners and communities that support the event.

Over the first two years of the Virtual , thousands of finishers took part from 48 different states and 73 different countries. This year’s Virtual Marathon is expected to have approximately 25,000 registrants. TOP STORYLINES ENTRY METHODS

Runners registered for the 2020 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon • An all-star group of professional runners from the past and present will take part in the race, including Olympic medalist and American in the following ways: marathon record-holder ; USA national champions Limited Guaranteed Entry Methods and Team New Balance athlete Emily Sisson; 17-time • 1,000 entries were made available on a first-come, first-serve Paralympic medalist, five-time New York City Marathon champion, basis at a $150 Member/$175 Non-Member price, with finishers and NYRR Team for Kids Ambassador Tatyana McFadden; and receiving guaranteed, non-complimentary entry to the 2021 New Paralympian Daniel Romanchuk, the first American and youngest York City Marathon, 2022 New York City Marathon, or 2023 New athlete ever to win the men’s wheelchair division at the TCS New York City Marathon. Runners also receive virtual marathon training York City Marathon. with NYRR Coaching Lab, a medal, running buff, and a 60-day • Notable runners taking part in the full 26.2-mile distance will include Strava subscription. two NYRR Team for Kids Ambassadors – former New York Giants • 200 entries were made available on a first-come, first-serve basis running back Tiki Barber and MTV Catfish producer and host and at a $150 Member/$175 Non-Member price to those who raise ABC’s Dancing with the Stars contestant Nev Schulman. $500 or more for Team for Kids, NYRR’s charity running team • Olympic medalist and former New York City Marathon champion that raises funds for NYRR’s youth programs. Runners receive the Meb Keflezighi will team up with tennis star and philanthropist same benefits as mentioned above, in addition to a Team for Kids James Blake; they will share the distance, each running a half backpack and singlet. marathon to support and raise funds for their respective charitable Unlimited Entry Methods causes. Keflezighi will run for NYRR Team for Kids and Blake will run on behalf of the James Blake Foundation. The duo of Amy Robach, • An unlimited number of entries were made available at a $50 co-host of ABC News and Good Morning America, and Andrew Member/$60 Non-Member price, with runners receiving a medal, Shue, actor and television star of Melrose Place, will also split the running buff, 50% off virtual marathon training with NYRR Coaching miles and each run a half marathon. Lab, and a 60-day Strava subscription.

•The mass runner field, representing registrants from nearly 125 • An unlimited number of entries were made available at no cost. different countries and all 50 states, includes runners who have Registrants will receive 10% off virtual marathon training with NYRR served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, overcame Coaching Lab and a 30-day Strava subscription. COVID-19, are running for a charity or cause close to their heart, MEDIA INFORMATION or simply running as a stress reliever in this challenging year or participating for the joy of running. Media interested in finding out additional information, storylines or looking to line up interviews for their coverage can reach out with their request to [email protected].

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NYRR COACHING LAB The virtual expo will be housed through Event Hub at https:// expo.tcsnycmarathon.org and will be a marketplace and content hub for NYRR, sponsors, partners , agency alliances and other More than 1,000 Virtual TCS New York City Marathon partici- exhibitors to connect with runners and fans globally. Virtual pants have taken part in the NYRR Coaching Lab, which pro- booths featuring products, partners and marathon-related vides them a training plan based on their level of running and content will be accessible to all for free. Programming highlights gives them the opportunity to partake in weekly video calls on the virtual main stage throughout the week include sessions with NYRR coaches and fellow runners to discuss and enhance on how to enhance your Virtual Marathon experience, Virtual their training. The NYRR Coaching Lab launched in 2020 to Marathon strategy sessions, and a live recording of NYRR’s provide runners around the world the opportunity to receive expert training advice virtually. FEATURED RUNNERS NYRR RACING APP • A group of 100 runners with a disability and their guides from The NYRR Racing app is a new premium offering that will bring the Achilles Mongolia chapter are running together, recreating a the Virtual TCS New York City Marathon racing experience to mini-NYC Marathon in Mongolia with a race director, volunteers, life by displaying where runners and their fellow virtual racers and a live stream broadcast. Additionally, runners from Achilles are in real time and where they would stack up on the actual chapters in Peru, , Ecuador, Norway, Russia and Canada will New York City Marathon course. Through this real-time runner be participating. tracking, friends and family will be able to track their runner’s • Twenty-five years ago, 22 runners formed the “Pizza Runners progress. This app is available to Virtual Marathon participants Group” which initially met in NYRR running classes. The group has in the paid tiers and will also include audio cues and sounds now completed more than 1,000 marathons total between them, of New York City along the course, push notifications as and five of them are NYRR Streakers, each having completed more progress is made, and Strava integration for run uploads. than 20 New York City Marathons. Five of the group—including one runner who recovered from COVID-19-will be completing VIRTUAL TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHON their first Virtual TCS New York City Marathon and all plan to finish APP POWERED BY TATA CONSULTANCY at the iconic finish line in Central Park at the same time. SERVICES • Chris Busbee and Mike Kloepfer have run the New York City The race’s title and technology sponsor, Tata Consultancy Marathon for 22 and 23 years in a row, respectively. They met in Services (TCS), is launching an app with exclusive features for 1998 when they were both running the marathon for FRED’s Team, runners and spectators to prepare for and celebrate the race. a charity they both still run for today. Because of the marathon, The official Virtual TCS New York City Marathon app will allow they have formed a friendship spanning over two decades and runners to listen to special race-day sound effects, access numerous finish lines. As in prior years, they plan on running side- customizable selfie frames, and celebrate their finish with the by-side for the duration of the race. Re-Play This Run and augmented reality medal photo features. • Dan McKnight is a military veteran who served in Desert Storm Friends and family can also use the app to create custom cards in 1989 and did four stints in Iraq after 9/11. After having his leg to cheer on runners during the race. Each of these features has amputated in 2018, he was told that he would never be able to been specifically designed to be shareable on social media to walk, let alone run, again. As a 50th birthday present to himself, help spread the excitement for the world’s premier race. The app he will be running his first marathon this year. will be available for download in Apple and Google Play Stores. • Dave Fraser has cerebral palsy and is unable to run or walk so

Virtual TCS New York City Marathon Expo participates with a team of guides as he pushes himself backwards Presented by New Balance in his wheelchair. Dave has participated in 13 consecutive New York City Marathons. Often coming in late as one of the Runners and spectators will have the chance to prepare for their marathon’s final finishers, when he reaches the last stretch of race and engage with the NYRR brand and its partners through the marathon in Central Park and sees the lights and hears the the Virtual TCS New York City Marathon Expo Presented by New roar of the crowd he turns around to finish facing forward to Balance, which will be open from October 26 – November 2. watch the celebration, despite it being harder for him to push.

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NYRR.ORG/MEDIACENTER | @NYRRNEWS #TCSNYCMARATHON RACE NOTES | 2 VIRTUAL TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

• Dylan Vidoli is an FDNY first responder and an active member • Mario Martin is a five-time marathoner who works at Getafe of the FDNY running club who ran the in-person TCS New York Hospital in the center of Madrid, Spain, where the entire population City Marathon in 2018 and 2019. During the pandemic, he has had to stay in their homes from March through June He’s spent worked on the frontlines, responding to 911 calls, helping with CPR this year working in the ICU with intubated patients, administering and COVID-19 patients. medication, managing their ventilators and assisting with postural changes. Now that he is able to leave his home again, he has been • Jack Hirschowitz is a joggler (jogging and running), who at 75 years old will be the oldest person to joggle a marathon. He has running again to clear his head and recharge. He has never been run 11 New York City Marathons and has joggled every single one able to make the trip overseas to run the New York City Marathon in of them. For the last 25 years, he has met weekly with a group person, so this year he will finally be running his “dream marathon” of jugglers at the Carmine Street Gym. He has a passion for by doing it virtually. circus arts and competes in international juggling competitions. • Stephanie Johnson grew up living in poverty in Brooklyn and began running as a way to get places since it was a free means of • Jacquelyn Murphy is an NYRR Run for the Future coach, training high school girls to run their first 5K and earn a college transportation. She enrolled in the military as a way to overcome scholarship while doing so. She works for Covenant House, her circumstances and was deployed to Kuwait and Qatar shortly which shelters more than 200 kids ages 18-21 each night from after 9/11. She now works as U.S. Army career counselor in Ohio, across New Jersey. To inspire the young adults she works with, h e l p i n g s o l d i e r s t r a n s i t i o n t o l i f e w h e n t h e y r e t u r n f r o m d e p l o y m e n t . she plans to run the virtual marathon around the Covenant • Tatiana Rojas worked in the epicenter of the pandemic crisis at House in Newark. This will take her 105 laps around the shelter Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. A former PE teacher from Bolivia, she and she will be joined in relays by the staff and young adults. immigrated to the U.S. in 1984 and now works as a coordinator on her hospital’s Case Management Team, following up with COVID • Kellie Alberici, a P.E. teacher from Queens, is running for FRED’s Team both in honor of her late mother and to inspire her students. patients by phone after they are discharged. She is a COVID-19 It will be her first marathon. In 2020, she lost her mother and her survivor herself, having contracted the virus in March, and will be uncle to cancer, one of her closest friends to COVID-19, and was running her second consecutive Virtual TCS New York City Marathon. furloughed from her job. She wasn’t able to say goodbye to any of • Victor Titone is a former college lacrosse player from Long them because of the no-visitor hospital policy and will be running Island, NY, who four years ago suffered numerous major fractures in honor of them, ending at her mother’s former home in Queens. in his spine from overtraining. He underwent major surgery with the Hospital of Special Surgery, having to relearn to breathe, walk, and finally run. ABOUT NYRR VOLVO VIRTUAL RACING NYRR Volvo Virtual Racing launched in beta together with Strava at the start of 2018. Virtual race participants use a GPS device of their choice to track and upload their run with the Strava app. Since its inception, there have now been more than 190,000 total finishers from 100 different countries across more than 30 virtual races. The largest virtual race thus far was the 2020 NYRR Virtual Resolution Run 5K with 16,246 finish­ers. Proceeds from the virtual races support NYRR’s mission to help and inspire people through running, and benefit NYRR’s youth and community programs.

2020 Races Finishers Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile 6,263 NYRR Virtual Resolution Run 5K 17,535 Virtual Volvo Cars for Alex Million Mile 5K 10,214 NYRR NYC Half- Virtual 13.1M 5,072 Virtual New Balance Bronx 10 Mile 3,817 NYRR NYC Half- Virtrual 5K 7,482 Virtual Staten Island Half Marathon Oct 2-11 NYRR Virtual 5K 12,409 Virtual Spring Marathon Kickoff 5M Oct 17-24 NYRR Virtual Brooklyn Half 8,075 Virtual Abbott Dash to the FInish 5K Oct 25-Nov 1 NYRR Virtual Global Running Day 1M 12,890 Virtual Race to Deliver 5K Nov 16-22 Virtual NYRR Black Lives Matter 1M 8,411 Virtual NYRR Ted Corbitt 15K Nov 30-Dec 6 Virtual Harlem 5K Honoring Percy Sutton 100 and 4,240 Virtual NYRR Season of Light 5K Dec 7-13 Charles Rangel 90 TOTAL FINISHERS 96,408

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NYRR.ORG/MEDIACENTER | @NYRRNEWS #TCSNYCMARATHON RACE NOTES | 3 VIRTUAL TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

2019 Races Finishers 2018 Races Finishers NYRR Virtual Resolution Run 5K 7, 046 NYRR Virtual Resolution Run 5K 2,860 Virtual Valentine’s Duo 5K 4,432 NYRR Virtual For the Kids 5K Benefitting Rising 1,597 NYRR NYC Half 5K 4,991 New York Road Runners NYRR NYC Half 13.1 M 812 NYRR Virtual NYC 10K 1,282 NYRR Dog Jog 5K 4,097 NYRR Virtual Sunrise to Sunset 5K 1,494 NYRR Virtual Global Running Day 1M 10,839 NYRR Virtual Global Running Day 1M 2,923 NYRR Virtual Pride Run 5K 6,741 NYRR Virtual GOOAAALLL 5K 2,771 NYRR Virtual World Championship 5K 6,989 NYRR Virtual New Balance 5th Avenue Mile 2,464 NYRR Virtual Halfway There 13.1M 4,821 TCS New York City Marathon - Virtual 5K 4,564 TCS New York City Marathon - Virtual 5K 5,828 TCS New York City Marathon - Virtual 26.2 425 TCS New York City Marathon - Virtual 26.2 2,828 NYRR Virtual Turkey Trot 5K 4,920 NYRR Virtual Turkey Trot 5K 9,412 TOTAL FINISHERS 25,300 TOTAL FINISHERS 68,812

NYRR VIRTUAL YOUTH AND COMMUNITY OFFERINGS

• Rising New York Road Runners’ Virtual Races have been Runners is NYRR’s flagship youth fitness program available to introduced to bring the fun and excitement of race day directly to students from prekindergarten through grade 12. children around the world in the absence of NYRR’s in-person youth • NYRR Striders at Home provides seniors free online fitness events. The new virtual youth race series kicks off on October 17, sessions that can be done from the safety of their own homes. with the Virtual Rising New York Road Runners Invitational at the NYRR believes in the power of fitness to keep adults physically TCS New York City Marathon. The virtual race offers participants and mentally strong, especially in the wake of COVID-19. All fitness the choice to select a 1-mile, 1.5-mile, or . Additional virtual activities on this platform keep space and social distancing in mind. youth races will be added throughout the fall. • NYRR RUNCENTER at Home While the NYRR RUNCENTER • Rising New York Road Runners’ Virtual Challenges are designed featuring the New Balance Run Hub is conveniently located at 320 to excite and encourage kids of all ages to stay active no matter West 57th Street in Manhattan, during the COVID-19 pandemic the where they are. Kids can participate alone or together as a class, NYRR RUNCENTER has transformed to the NYRR RUNCENTER family, or team, in engaging games and activities led by Olympic and at Home, with weekly classes such as yoga and strength training Paralympic athletes. Happening now – the Rising New York Road being offered for free virtually to runners in the comfort of their Runners Coast to Coast Virtual Challenge features 52 activities (one own homes. By being offered virtually, these classes now allow for each state, plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico), and includes members of the running community around the world to come a printable Road Map for kids to track their progress. together to improve their health, fitness, and overall wellbeing. The • Rising New York Road Runners’ Active at Home is a free and New Balance Run Hub remains open during this time, and for each engaging online platform for parents looking to continue their kids’ pair of shoes purchased there, New Balance will donate a pair of physical development from home, providing full PE sessions and shoes to NYRR’s youth programs.* individual activity videos led by Olympic and Paralympic athletes, *In 2020, for every pair of shoes sold to a customer at the NYRR RUNCENTER, New Balance Flatiron store and New Balance Upper East store, New Balance and NYRR shall detailed instructions and photos for parents to help their kids donate a pair of shoes to a New York Road Runners supported youth program, up to a with proper form, and an activity tracker. Rising New York Road maximum cost of $300,000. For more information about New York Road Runners visit www.nyrr.org.

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