A Look Back: The Marathon’s past

Sunday, November 5 was the New York City Marathon.

Begun in 1970 as a race through Central Park, it expanded to all five boroughs in 1976, with 2,090 runners. Sunday, the world-renowned race — which kicks off on the Staten Island side of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and streams through Bay Ridge — welcomed over 51,000 participants.

This photo, from the files of this newspaper, depicts runners in the early days of the Marathon on Fourth Avenue, just after they have crossed 65th Street.

How sparse the crowd seems compared to today’s race!