nyc: The New York City Marathon will not be run Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office announced late Friday afternoon.Earlier, Bloomberg defended his decision to go ahead with the 26.2-mile run, saying it would give the storm-ravaged city something to cheer about.Critics argued that the race would take resources away from recovery efforts and that it was insensitive to New Yorkers hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.
While holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort, it is clear that it has become the source of controversy and division," Bloomberg and Mary Wittenberg, the president of the New York Road Runners, said in a joint statement.
The marathon has always brought our city together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination. We would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, and so we have decided to cancel it. We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event – even one as meaningful as this – to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track."
The statement concluded by saying the Road Runners would have additional information --in the days ahead for participants.
Wittenberg said registered runners would be guaranteed a slot in next year's race or in the 2013 NYC Half Marathon, which will be run March 17, WABC reports.
Critics including lawmakers had slammed the mayor's decision as "idiotic," insensitive and a diversion of city resources at a time when New Yorkers have lost power, their homes and their loved ones.
Thousands of runners joined online appeals to boycott the event or volunteer instead on Sunday to help stricken families.
Score one for sanity. Let's continue to focus on rescue, relief, repair efforts tweeted New York State Sen. Liz Krueger, who represents Manhattan's East Side, minutes after the announcement.
The marathon has traditionally drawn many runners from around the globe, as well as from the U.S. Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, a Dutch athlete who planned to run this year's race for charity, tweeted "months training but for residents here in NY who need the resources more than we do!
The decision represents a highly public defeat for Bloomberg, who in controversies past has vigorously resisted being pressured into changing his position.
The scrappy New York Post took the mayor to task with its front page headlined Abuse of Power. It pictured large generators supplying power to the marathon's administrative tent in Central Park.
"Those generators could power 400 homes on Staten Island or the Rockaways or any storm-racked neighborhood in the city certain to be suffering the after--affects of Hurricane Sandy on Sunday morning the Post thundered in a Friday editorial. Shouldn't they come first? Shouldn't the race just be canceled? Damned straight.
At a Friday briefing, Bloomberg tried to counter the mounting criticism by saying the expanded restoration of mass transit and projected return of electrical power to most of Manhattan by Friday night would free up many police officers and other city personnel.
The city resources required by the marathon, he said, were not resources that would make a difference in storm recovery efforts. "If I thought it would take resources away" from emergency work, "we would not do that," he said.
The mayor noted that Rudy Giuliani, his predecessor who had staged the annual race only weeks after the 9/11 attacks, supported his decision as a way to demonstrate solidarity among New Yorkers.
The marathon, Bloomberg told reporters, would "give people something to cheer about in a week that's been pretty dismal."
You can grieve, you can laugh, you can cry, all at the same time," the mayor said.
He also said the race would pump much-needed money into the city's economy, which was brought to its knees by the storm.
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