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Bloomberg

New York marathon cancelled after protests swamp Mayor Bloomberg

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

November 3, 2012 | 4 min read

The New York City Marathon is the latest victim of Hurricane Sandy. The world-famous race due to take place tomorrow has been cancelled by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the organisers after criticism that staging it would be an "affront to residents damaged by floods."

Bloomberg: Changed mind

In 24 hours, a Facebook page called "Cancel the 2012 NYC Marathon" had brought in 30,000 likes -- a number that continues to climb, said AdAge. Adding fuel to the fire, the race was due to start in Staten Island, an area devastated by the storm , still without power and water and with buildings washed out to sea .

Mayor Bloomberg, who earlier said the race would go on, and the New York Road Runners, who organise it, said in a statement, “We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it.

“We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event -- even one as meaningful as this -- to distract attention away from all the critically important work being done to recover from the storm.”

The marathon was run weeks after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

About 47,000 runners had registered for this year's race, including about 20,000 from overseas. Up to 40,000 were expected on the start line in Staten Island.

New Yorkers who booked hotel rooms after their homes became uninhabitable faced being displaced because runners had reserved their rooms months in advance.

Jonathan Vogel, 42, a lawyer from North Carolina, about to fly to New York for the race , told Bloomberg News , “I feel for those people who already made the trip, but I think it pales in comparison to what the people of New York and New Jersey are going through. I’ll look forward to running the marathon next year.”

Yesterday afternoon Mayor Bloomberg had said the marathon would go on.

“New York has to show that we are here and that we’re going to recover,” he told reporters . “You have to keep going and doing things, and you can grieve, you can cry and you can laugh all at the same time. That’s what human beings are good at.”

But, as the day went on, however, more and more city officials came out against holding the race.

Councilman Domenic Recchia, of hard-hit Coney Island, said, “To host the New York City Marathon in the middle of what is complete devastation and a crisis in parts of this city is just wrong.”

Patrick Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, representing the city’s police officers, called for the marathon to be postponed “until the city is fully recovered.”

“Valuable police resources should not be redeployed to cover what is essentially a citywide party,” he said.

Mary Wittenberg, chief executive of the NYRR, said blankets, water, food and portable toilets to be used for the marathon will be available to help in relief efforts.

“From the earliest days this week, the marathon ceased to be about running, and it was all about how best to aid New York City,” she said.

The storm has killed at least 41 people in New York. It left 4.8 million people in the region without power and has caused as much as $50 billion in damage.

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