Exclusive | Meet the hero marathoners, including one New Yorker who has run every race for half a century
When Dave Obelkevich ran the New York City Marathon through all five boroughs in 1976, Staten Island felt like uncharted territory.The race was expanding beyond Central Park for the first time, bringing runners into neighborhoods and crowds Obelkevich had never experienced.
He had no idea he’d still be running it 50 years later.Now 83, Obelkevich has endured a broken rib he continued running with after a cycling crash, emergency surgery for a leg-threatening aneurysm and, more recently, unexplained balance issues.Yet on November 1, he’ll return to Staten Island hoping to complete his 50th NYC Marathon and extend a streak no one else can match: He’s completed every five-borough edition held since 1976, with the race itself canceled in 2012 and 2020.“A November without the race is inconceivable,” the Upper West Sider told The Post, his fastest time in 1982 when he ran it in 2 hours and 40 minutes.Fifty years after his first five-borough marathon, Obelkevich has been chosen as one of 26 runners (one runner for every marathon mile) for New York Road Runners (NYRR) Team Inspire, which recognizes some of the most compelling personal stories in this year’s race.
His fellow honorees are running for lost loved ones, returning to a city that changed their lives or tackling challenges they once thought impossible.The retired music teacher’s impressive streak spans the marathon’s transformation from a modest Central Park race to a global phenomenon.
When the race debuted in 1970, entry cost $1, and just 55 runners finished a course of more than four laps around the park.Six years later, running pioneer Ted Corbitt helped launch a five-borough route as part of the nation’s Bicentennial celebration.
Intended as a one-time event, the October 24, 1976, race drew 2,090 entrants and 1,549 finishers.The marathon’s growth was swift.Last year’s race topped 59,000 finishers, while more than 240,000 people from over 160 countries applied for the 2026 drawing.
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