The event was invitation-only prior to 2011, when MMRF became the title sponsor and benefiting charity thanks in part to a $50,000 donation from SAC Capital Advisors LP portfolio manager Nick Tiller. The roughly 125 runners in the MMRF group last night raised about $500,000, according to the foundation, bringing their three-year total to $1.4 million.
Top Team
The MMRF’s top fundraising team was PricewaterhouseCoopers, at $23,500, according to the foundation. The highest individual fundraisers were Mary Weidner and Bill West at $45,700, followed by Touche Howard, who raised $30,000 by running the course while wearing 50 pounds of firefighting gear.
Bourne, a 29-year-old ecologist for the Australian government in Canberra, said he typically races mountain running and cross-country events. He said he took the lead around the 60th floor and took in the nighttime Manhattan skyline before crossing the finish line.
“It was a great feeling, knowing I was in the lead by a comfortable margin and could look out over the edge and enjoy the view for a second,” he said in an interview.
Walsham, 39, who won the event from 2007-09 and placed second last year, said each year she learns that limits can be pushed a little bit further. Runners pull themselves up along the handrails to spread the work between their arms and legs.
Course Records
“Normally I’m sitting on the ground thinking, ’What am I doing this for?”’ she said after the race. “This is the best I’ve felt in years.”
The course record of 9:33 was set by Paul Crake of Australia in 2003, according to the NYRR, which also organizes the New York City Marathon. The women’s record of 11:23 was set in 2006 by Andrea Mayr of Austria.
Kuritzky won the MMRF group in 2011, and last year raced in the invitational heat, where Goldman Sachs colleagues and friends pledged $10,000 for every elite runner he passed. He said last night that he had no idea what he might do in 2014.