Despite concerns that city won't be prepared to handle it, the New York City Marathon will go ahead as scheduled on Sunday. NY1 confirms that race is officially going ahead with early morning start for more than 40,000 runners. Many New Yorkers are rightly worried about the idea of devoting so many police, fire, and volunteer resources to setting up and maintaining a road race, but the event is just too big to move to another date, and some others may find a huge community gathering to be good for civic morale.

Fortunately, the marathon route avoids many of the hardest hit areas, as it doesn't go anywhere near downtown Manhattan, keeps away from most waterfronts, and doesn't need underground tunnels. However, it begins on Staten Island, which requires a substantial early morning journey for the runners. Most get to the starting line by taking the Staten Island Ferry, which sits in a currently blacked out portion of the city and the subway station that services it is currently underwater. Central Park, where the finish line is, is also closed. Also, the race brings in many non-New Yorkers who may find it difficult to fly into the city this week and may miss out altogether.

However, they still have almost four full days to restore power, get subway lines running, and make sure no one trips over any downed trees. It may be a bigger adventure than anyone signed up for.

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Dashiell Bennett