BUFFALO, N.Y. — On Sunday morning, 5,800 runners from 13 countries and 43 states are running the Buffalo Marathon all through the city.
Runners in the half-marathon began finishing the race just over an hour after the 13.1 mile race began in downtown Buffalo.
Joe Wahelan of Webster, New York, was this year's winner. Wahelan came close to the half-marathon record finishing in an hour and eight minutes, the record being an hour and five minutes.
“It was just routine at this point. I’m actually training for a Grandma’s Marathon in a few weeks, so this was more of a dress rehearsal,” Wahelan said.
This was Wahelan's second time winning the half and he has won the full once before.
Drivers will need to be aware of road closures to accommodate the race.
Here is a map of the race route:
Tops is a huge sponsor of the Buffalo marathon so organizers wanted to be sure to honor the lives lost in that mass shooting on Jefferson 15 days ago at Sunday's race.
Executive Director for the Buffalo Marathon Greg Weber joined our Town Hall earlier this week to share how they would honor those victims.
"We wanted to be supportive of the Jefferson Avenue community, the store and all of their associates. I know they are extremely saddened so we wanted to do our little bit. And it's a delicate balance we wanted to be - honor the victims but also respect all of our athletes that have trained so hard to run this race. So I have a red ribbon on, we are going to give out 7,500 of these this weekend for our volunteers and runners to wear," Weber said.
Weber went on to say that they will also have a shopping cart going around the race route today with the names of the 10 victims.
The names of the victims are also on the race's start arch and finish line.