Lelisa Desisa from Ethiopia. But at the seventh mile, he dropped out after stopping for a water break, citing hamstring strain. American Sara Hall, who recently finished fifth at the Berlin Marathon 35 days ago with her personal best of 2:22:16, also pulled out within the first 10 miles.

Hall later explained her decision on Twitter: "Very bummed to not be able to finish today at @nycmarathon Committed to my plan as long as I could, but had some stomach illness yesterday and today that left me feeling too weak & wobbly to keep going. Thank you to everyone who came out to support,your cheers helped so much!"

The wheelchair champions

Nobody knew of Daniel Romanchuk two years ago. Now, the 21-year-old American is the winner of back-to-back New York Marathons,after victories in the Boston and London Marathons earlier this year. With all the winning comes healthy earnings (he recently bought a house with his prize money) and experience (he joked one of the best things he has learned to do in the past year is to hold a mic and talk to media without getting anxious). Switzerland's Manuela Schar, 34, won her third straight marathon in the women's wheelchair division this year.

Sub-elite podium finisher

Imagine a podium finisher not having an agent nor a sponsor? That is the case with this year's men's third-place finisher, Ethiopia's sub-elite runner, Girma Bekele Gebre. His finished 2:08:28, only two seconds slower than Albert Korir, and earned $40,000 in the process. At the news conference, Gebre said he participates in the marathons