Paul Tergat of Kenya (left) crosses the finish line just ahead of Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa to win the New York City Marathon on November 6, 2005. (Photo: Mike Segar/Reuters)

November 7, 2005—With less than a second separating them, Paul Tergat from Kenya beat South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala to win the New York City Marathon.

The two runners stayed close throughout the 26.2-mile race. In the final steps before the finish line, Tergat pulled ahead by a nose. It was the closest race in New York City Marathon history.

"Those last 50 meters, that's when I had to give it all I had. It was very hard," Tergat said. He won the race in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 30 seconds.

More than 35,000 people from 100 different countries ran in New York City's annual marathon this year. With thousands of fans cheering them on, the runners dashed across bridges and through the city's five boroughs, which are like counties. The runners faced higher than usual temperatures and a dense morning fog.

The Races

In the women's race, Jelena Prokopcuka from Latvia, won the race in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 41 seconds. She lagged behind Susan Chepkemei of Kenya for most of the race, but by the 25th mile she pulled up alongside the Kenyan runner. The marathon was only Prokopcuka's fifth major race.

"This is a big victory for such a small country," she said.

South African Ernst Van Dyk won the men's wheelchair race in 1 hour, 31 minutes and 11 seconds, a course record. He set the world record of 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 27 seconds last year in the Boston Marathon's mostly downhill race.

"It's a very, very challenging course," Van Dyk said of the marathon route in New York. "All those bridges, hills, lots of turns. The roads are real bumpy. There are a lot of holes in the roads, and you have to be very alert... There is a lot of turning, a lot of climbing, a lot of descending. And sometimes we reach 40 miles an hour."

Edith Hunkeler from Switzerland won the women's wheelchair race in 1 hour, 54 minutes, and 51 seconds. Hunkeler was injured in a car accident ten years ago that left her legs paralyzed.

"I don't think much about that," she said. "I have a good life now. I can do everything I want except walk."

Van Dyk agrees. "If I wasn't disabled," he said, "I would never have achieved what I have in life. If I was able, I probably would never have achieved this."

New York City Marathon
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