The Marathon Pioneer
Gary Muhrcke leads a field of trailblazers in the 40th running
Although he was an accomplished runner in his day, Gary Muhrcke still considers himself lucky to have won the first New York City Marathon.
That's because he almost didn't run the race at all. A firefighter for a ladder company in Far Rockaway, Muhrcke had worked a full shift the night before.
"I remember calling my wife, Joan, at 8:30 that morning and telling her I didn't want to run," says Muhrcke, a two-time winner of the Yonkers Marathon. "I only changed my mind because I could hear the hurt in her voice. We had three young children, and she was really looking forward to a day in the park with the kids."
Muhrcke paid the $1 entry fee 15 minutes before the race, which consisted of four loops inside Central Park. There were 127 entrants and 55 finishers.
Muhrcke rallied from 10th place at the 14-mile mark to finish first in 80-degree weather on Sept. 13, 1970, 4 minutes and 6 seconds ahead of runner-up Tom Fleming (the 1973 and 1975 champ), and became an essential part of the history of New York's great race.
"But it wasn't a big deal at the time," says Muhrcke, 69, who retains the trim, wiry physique of a runner. "People were throwing Frisbees around in the park and not paying attention to us."
"Basically, we were just a bunch of idiots with numbers on our chests running in Central Park," affirms Ralph Garfield, 74." Garfield finished 43rd that day, two spots ahead of Fred Lebow who, as the New York Road Runners president and marathon race director, would transform the event into a global phenomenon.
This year, in the 40th annual marathon, more than a quarter-billion people worldwide will watch on television, with more than 2 million spectators lining the streets of the five boroughs to cheer on a record field of 42,000 entrants.
But in 1970, any public attention was welcome.
"I made the centerfold of the Daily News the day after the first race," says Garfield, who lives in Englishtown, N.J. "But not because of my running. My wife sewed a pocket onto my shorts that had the Playboy Bunny logo on it. It must have caught the photographer's eye."
Today, recognition for marathon pioneers such as Muhrcke, Garfield, Bill Newkirk, and George Hirsch is easier to come by. They'll wear special bibs in this year's race.
"It's just amazing what the marathon has become," says Newkirk, 74, a Manhattan resident who finished 47th in 1970. "My only goal this year is to finish."
Hirsch, the chairman of the NYRR board of directors, and Muhrcke are more ambitious. Hirsch will take aim at the marathon world-record time of 3:45 for runners 75 and older.
"I ran the Chicago Marathon three weeks ago in what supposed to be a tune-up, but I wound up finishing the race in 3:58," says Hirsch, 75, who ran the 1970 Boston Marathon but missed the first New York race.
Muhrcke, the principal owner of Super Runners Shop, hopes to finish in under 3:30.
"I'm not interested in running 26 miles at a slow pace," says Muhrcke, a Huntington, Long Island resident. "If I wanted to do that, I could just do it in the park. But when you pin a number on, you're a runner."
