NEW YORK—With over 350 runners participating, NYCRuns held the first Brooklyn-only marathon in Prospect Park on Sunday. The route circled the lower loop of the park twice, then the entirety of the park six times, and once more around the lower, inner loop. The race started at 8 a.m. and was capped at six hours, timed electronically.
The inaugural Brooklyn Marathon is a qualifier for the 2013 Boston Marathon, the oldest annual marathon in the world, which has lowered its qualifying times by five minutes since last year.
Organizer and NYCRuns founder Steve Lastoe hopes the race will grow in future years, and help fill the gap for New Yorkers who want to run marathons. The ING NYC Marathon that runs through all five boroughs of NYC took place two weeks ago and had nearly three times as many applicants as spots. Lastoe says starting the Brooklyn Marathon in the park was the easiest way to launch the marathon.
