Kenya's Mary Keitany And Lelisa Desisa Of Ethiopia Win New York City Marathon
First place finishers Mary Keitany of Kenya, left, and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia pose for a picture at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on Sunday.
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At the New York City Marathon on Sunday, the race’s top long-distance runners greeted an ideally brisk and sunny fall morning with near record times.
It was a day of many personal firsts, as a field of more than 50,000 sought to push their way through the city’s five boroughs in the annual race.
Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia won the men’s race — his first in New York — in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 59 seconds.
Lelisa Desisa, of Ethiopia, crosses the finish line first in the men’s division of the NYC Marathon.
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“This is my dream,” Desisa, 28, said after the race, The Associated Press reported. “To be a champion.”
Shura Kitata, also of Ethiopia, took second place in the men’s race with a time of 2:06:01. Last year’s title defender, Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor, was favored to win going into the race, but ultimately placed third with a time of 2:06:26.
In the women’s race, fellow Kenyan Mary Keitany, 36, became the third person to win the NYC marathon four times, according to The New York Times. She ran the course in 2:22:48, the second fastest time for a female runner in NYC marathon history. Kenya’s Margaret Okayo’s record of 2:22:31 from 2003 remains unbroken.
Mary Keitany of Kenya is first to finish the women’s NYC Marathon.
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Keitany said that setting a course record was never on her mind, according to the AP. She just wanted to win.
“For me, winning was the most important,” she said.
Keitany outran Vivian Cheruiyot, 35, of Kenya, who came in at 2:26:02. American Shalane Flanagan, 37, who finished third with a time of 2:26:22, ran faster than last year when she won the race.
In the wheelchair division, Daniel Romanchuk became the first American to win the men’s race, finishing in 1:36:21. Switzerland’s Marcel Hug trailed about one second behind Romanchuk, followed by David Weir of Britain, to round out the top three.
Daniel Romanchuk of the United States poses for a picture after crossing the finish line first in the men’s wheelchair division.
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Manuela Schar of Switzerland won the women’s wheelchair division for the second time, at 1:50:27. Tatyana McFadden of the U.S. finished as runner-up at 1:50:48 and Lihong Zou of China came in third.
Cranberry Farmer Says Harvest Is Great, But Business Is Struggling To Survive
Massachusetts cranberry growers are halfway through the harvest. It’s been a good crop, but they’re worried about low fruit prices. We visit with one farmer and discuss the struggling industry.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Massachusetts cranberry growers are halfway through this year’s harvest season. It’s been a good crop so far. But they’re worried about how low fruit prices are affecting the industry in the state. Hayley Fager from member station WCAI visits a cranberry farmer, and she has this report.
HAYLEY FAGER, BYLINE: The leaves have just started to turn orange and yellow in Southeastern Massachusetts. I’m on a cranberry farm with Steve Ward, a second-generation grower in Middleborough. His 22-year-old son Justin Ward is out here today harvesting. Justin’s already started up the pump and flooded the cranberry field.
JUSTIN WARD: Before we got onto that bog, I said as long as you don’t fall in the ditch, we’ll be OK. Well, he fell in the ditch (laughter).
FAGER: That’s part of the whole harvesting process. Somebody always falls into the ditch. Picking machines remove the berries from the bushes, and the fruit floats to the top. Then it gets corralled into a big ring.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
FAGER: I put on some waders and walk into the water with Steve. The pump sucks the berries up a tube.
STEVE WARD: When I talk to little kids, I say it’s like a whirlpool sucking everything in.
FAGER: Steve rakes the berries toward the suction box.
(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE RUNNING)
FAGER: The fruit moves up through a washing system and onto a truck.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Welcome, everyone, to the cranberry harvest festival by Makepeace.
FAGER: I first saw this process at the 15th cranberry harvest festival, where I met Steve a few weeks ago. He says working on the bogs is hard and can be kind of lonely.
S. WARD: When I come to something like this, it reinvigorates me. The excitement that someone shows on their face when I talk about something that, I think, is kind of day-to-day, almost kind of boring at times, makes me feel good, makes me feel needed.
FAGER: The event brings nearly 30,000 people to the small town of Wareham, Mass. You can take a helicopter ride over the fields and even walk into the bogs.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: We are going to go wade in the cranberries.
FAGER: But this year was the festival’s last, and that’s a sign of bigger changes in the industry. Nationally, cranberry revenues have dropped. And farmers who staff the event just can’t afford to take a week off from harvesting. The problem is worse for Massachusetts growers because most of the bogs here are natural, which makes them less efficient than man-made bogs in places like Wisconsin or Canada. Farmers here are banking on state funding to upgrade their bogs.
S. WARD: If we don’t do that, other parts of the world and other parts of the country are going to put us out of business.
FAGER: Steve has mixed feelings about his son entering a struggling industry. But Justin says this job makes him happy.
J. WARD: I’m hoping to do it as long as I can, you know? This is really fun for me.
FAGER: Every year, they go out together when the first cranberries are ready to taste. And they find the very best berry that they can. And then Steve takes that perfect berry, and he holds it up over his head.
S. WARD: Now, Justin usually doesn’t jump in and say it with me because he’s laughing so hard.
J. WARD: Yeah.
S. WARD: But I’ll yell at the top of my lungs, first cranberry of the season.
FAGER: Even now Justin is laughing at his dad.
S. WARD: And Justin says, dad, why do you have to do it so loud? The neighbors are going to hear us (laughter). It has to be that way. The whole world has to hear it.
FAGER: Steve and Justin Ward are doing everything they can to stay in business. They say they’ll be out here every year for their own harvest celebration. For NPR News, I’m Hayley Fager in southeastern Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF RY COODER SONG, “JESUS AND WOODY”)
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