Performance
Gallery: The 2018 New York City Marathon
The biggest race in the world gets bigger
Perfect conditions greeted runners for the 2018 New York City Marathon, and pre-race all the attention was on the elite women.
After Shalane Flanagan's historic, drought breaking win in 2017, expectations in American women's distance running have been high in 2018. From the showdown between Jordan Hasay and Shalane that never-was in Boston, to Des Linden's epic win in the same race, to another late scratching from Hasay in Chicago, to Gwen Jorgensen and Alexi Pappas making their 'debuts' in Chicago, American women have provided a lot of the key storylines this year.
With Shalane lining up to defend her title against a strong field that included 3 time champ Mary Keitany, this was always thought to be the race to watch.
On the men's side, defending champ Geoffrey Kamworwor was a firm favourite to continue on the trajectory that has many labelling him the next Kipchoge. He won this race in 2017, and then won another 1/2 marathon world championships in Valencia in March.
After the elite fields rolled through mile 21, the streets got increasingly crowded as local run crews took over, celebrating locals and tourists alike as if they were winning the race.
While 5 miles down the road, Mary Keitany stamped herself as one of the greats with her 4th NYC marathon title, and Lelisa Desisa overpowered Geoffrey Kamworwor in the final 2 miles of the men's race.
Finally, it wouldn't be an event in New York if Jason Suarez wasn't involved. Normally he's behind the lens shooting the biggest names in our sport, but on this day he was running to raise money for Girls Gotta Run, an organisation in Ethiopia that provides pathways for female empowerment. You can help him reach his goal here.