New York City Marathon Trivia
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67 free New York City Marathon trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This New York City Marathon trivia quiz covers the world's largest marathon from its first running in 1970, when 127 runners looped Central Park and only 55 finished, to today's five-borough spectacle that starts on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and ends beside Tavern on the Green. It takes in the founders and pioneers (Fred Lebow, Ted Corbitt, Vince Chiappetta, Nina Kuscsik and the NYC Six, Dick Traum's prosthetic leg), the champions (Bill Rodgers, Grete Waitz's nine wins, Alberto Salazar, Paula Radcliffe, Meb Keflezighi, Shalane Flanagan, Mary Keitany, Geoffrey Mutai and Tamirat Tola), and the stories every runner tells: Rosie Ruiz, Wrong Way Silva, Rod Dixon catching Geoff Smith at the finish, and the closest finish in race history. There are also questions on the course itself, mile by mile through Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, on the lottery and the 9+1 program, the wheelchair division, the two cancellations, the sponsors and broadcasters, and the celebrities who have run it. Some questions any spectator on First Avenue could answer; others are for people who know their splits. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on the race and its champions, and each explanation adds one further detail. If you want the sport more broadly, try our general marathon quiz too.
30 of 67 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who won the men's race at the 2024 New York City Marathon?
Abdi Nageeye
Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands won the 2024 men's race in 2:07:39, pulling away from Evans Chebet in the final mile through Central Park.
Q 02How many runners finished the first New York City Marathon in 1970?
55
Just 55 runners finished the inaugural race, run as several loops of Central Park's Park Drive with a $1 entry fee and a budget of about $1,000.
Q 03Who won the New York City Marathon men's race in both 2017 and 2019?
Geoffrey Kamworor
Geoffrey Kamworor, a multiple world half-marathon champion, won the men's race in 2017 and returned to win again in 2019.
Q 04Who was the only woman to enter the first New York City Marathon in 1970?
Nina Kuscsik
Nina Kuscsik was the lone woman among the inaugural entrants; a stomach virus forced her out before the finish, but she returned to win the race in 1972 and 1973.
Q 05The 'NYC Six' protested a 1972 rule requiring women to start how long before the men?
Ten minutes
The AAU rule made women start ten minutes before the men; the protesters sat at the line for those ten minutes, then ran with the men, and the rule was dropped later that year.
Q 06Who won the women's race at the first five-borough marathon in 1976?
Miki Gorman
Miki Gorman, who took up running in her thirties, won the 1976 women's race in 2:39:11.
Q 07Kathrine Switzer became the first officially registered woman to run which race in 1967?
Boston Marathon
Kathrine Switzer ran the 1967 Boston Marathon as registered entrant K. V. Switzer; race official Jock Semple tried to rip off her bib, number 261, mid-race.
Q 08Which Ethiopian woman won the 2009 New York City Marathon?
Derartu Tulu
Derartu Tulu, twice an Olympic 10,000 m champion, won the 2009 women's race in 2:28:52 at the age of 37.
Q 09Who won the first five-borough marathon in 1976 in a course-record 2:10:10?
Bill Rodgers
Bill Rodgers won the first five-borough race in 2:10:10, finishing well clear of Olympic silver medalist Frank Shorter; it was the first of his four straight New York titles.
Q 10Dick Traum made history at the 1976 race by becoming the first person to complete a marathon with what?
A prosthetic leg
Dick Traum, who lost a leg after being hit by a car, completed the 1976 race on a prosthetic leg, the first amputee to finish it; he founded the Achilles Track Club in 1983.
Q 11Which Norwegian broke the women's world record in her 1978 New York debut with 2:32:30?
Grete Waitz
Grete Waitz, a track specialist making her marathon debut, ran 2:32:30 in 1978, more than two minutes under the previous women's world best.
Q 12Who won the women's race in both 2005 and 2006?
Jelena Prokopcuka
Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia won the women's race in 2005 in 2:24:41 and defended her title in 2006.
Q 13In 1979 the reigning women's champion became the first woman to break what barrier in the marathon?
2:30
The reigning champion ran 2:27:33 in 1979, the first time any woman had broken 2:30 in a marathon.
Q 21In 1992 the nine-time women's champion ran the whole race beside founder Fred Lebow to mark what?
His 60th birthday
Fred Lebow, in remission from brain cancer, ran to mark his 60th birthday; he and the champion finished together in 5:32:35, two years before his death.
Q 22Fred Lebow, founder of the race, was born under what name in Arad, Romania?
Fischel Lebowitz
Born Fischel Lebowitz to an Orthodox Jewish family in Arad, he survived the Holocaust, emigrated to the United States, and changed his name to Fred Lebow.
Q 23Which 1994 winner earned the nickname 'Wrong Way' after a detour seven-tenths of a mile from the finish?
Germán Silva
Q 14Rosie Ruiz's mistaken 1979 New York finish time qualified her for which race, where her fraud was exposed?
1980 Boston Marathon
Rosie Ruiz's 2:56:29 from New York got her into the 1980 Boston Marathon, where she was declared women's winner before officials found she had not run the full course of either race.
Q 15Alberto Salazar's 2:09:41 win in 1980 was notable at the time as what?
The fastest marathon debut by an American
Alberto Salazar's 2:09:41 in 1980 was the fastest marathon debut by an American; he beat Rodolfo Gómez of Mexico by about half a minute.
Q 16Why was Alberto Salazar's 1981 'world best' of 2:08:13 later rescinded?
The course was measured about 150 metres short
A 1985 remeasurement found the course was measured about 150 metres short, so Salazar's 2:08:13 was removed from the record books and Rob de Castella's 2:08:18 was recognised instead.
Q 17In 1983 Rod Dixon of New Zealand caught which Englishman at the 26-mile mark to win by nine seconds?
Geoff Smith
Geoff Smith, who had led for most of the race, was passed by Rod Dixon inside the final 400 metres and collapsed across the line moments after Dixon finished.
Q 18Orlando Pizzolato won the hot 1984 race despite stopping how many times with heat cramps?
Six
Orlando Pizzolato stopped six times with heat cramps in the final miles of the 1984 race and yet won in 2:14:53, his first of two straight titles.
Q 19From 1984 to 1986 the men's winner came from which country three years running?
Italy
Italy took the men's title in each of those years: Orlando Pizzolato won twice and Gianni Poli followed with a 2:11:06 victory.
Q 20Who in 1987 became the first African man to win the New York City Marathon?
Ibrahim Hussein
Ibrahim Hussein, a University of New Mexico graduate, won the 1987 men's race in 2:11:01, the first African man to take the title.
Germán Silva followed a lead vehicle off course with less than a mile to go, realised his mistake, and came back to beat countryman Benjamín Paredes by two seconds.
Q 24Tegla Loroupe's 1994 victory made her the first woman from where to win the race?
Africa
Tegla Loroupe became the first African woman to win the race in 1994, running 2:27:37 at age 21, and she repeated in 1995.
Q 25An official wheelchair division was first included in the New York City Marathon in what year?
2000
An official wheelchair division was added in 2000; before that, wheelchair athletes had competed for more than two decades without a recognised category or prizes.
Q 26Tesfaye Jifar's 2001 course record of 2:07:43, set weeks after 9/11, stood until who broke it in 2011?
Geoffrey Mutai
Geoffrey Mutai ran 2:05:06 in 2011, cutting more than two and a half minutes from Tesfaye Jifar's decade-old course record.
Q 27Which woman's 2003 course record of 2:22:31 stood for many years?
Margaret Okayo
Margaret Okayo's 2:22:31 in 2003 lowered her own course record of 2:24:21, set two years earlier, and was not beaten for more than two decades.
Q 28Which rapper ran the 2003 race for charity and raised $2 million for New York City schools?
P. Diddy
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs finished the 2003 race in 4:14:54, raising about $2 million for New York City public schools through his 'Diddy Runs the City' campaign.
Q 29The closest finish in race history came in 2005 when Paul Tergat beat Hendrick Ramaala by how much?
One second
Ramaala had won the year before, and Paula Radcliffe's 2004 win by four seconds had been the previous closest.
Q 30Marílson Gomes dos Santos, the 2006 and 2008 winner, was the first champion from where?
South America
Marílson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil won in 2006 and 2008, the first champion from South America; his 2006 winning time was 2:09:58.