PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After a virtual 2020 race, the Philadelphia Marathon made its in-person return Sunday morning. This year, a couple of runners celebrated by breaking course records.
Starting at Eakins Oval wrapping through Center City, Old City, Manayunk, West Philadelphia and other neighborhoods, the 26.2-mile race drew about 24,000 runners, according to marathon officials. That figure was a little lower than previous years due to COVID-19 protocols.
Runners Mike Cheshire and Leslie Sexton set new course records for the men and women, respectively. Cheshire finished with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes and 28 seconds, while Sexton destroyed the women's mark with a time of 2 hours and 28 minutes.
Many of the runners said they were happy to get back to in-person running and a lot of spectators said the same thing. John Daly came out to support his fiancee who took part in the marathon.
"I see people running out. It's been a real pleasure and I'm glad things are almost getting back to normal," he said.
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David Coleman from Brooklyn, New York, came to Philadelphia for love of the sport.
"I enjoy the city, I enjoy the people, I enjoy going out and running for 26 miles for some odd reason," he laughed.
Coleman had a rather unique way of training for the marathon. "I just enjoy running. I did a 65k about four weeks ago for my 65th birthday," he said.
There were also course records set over in the men's and women's half marathons on Saturday.