Hellen Obiri sets an NYC Half record in the largest half marathon the US has run

The United Airlines NYC Half on Sunday had 30,229 finishers, the most of any half marathon in the United States and the biggest race New York Road Runners has ever put on at the distance. The course runs park to park, from near Prospect Park in Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge, past Grand Central and through a Times Square closed to traffic for one of the two times a year it happens, into Central Park.

Hellen Obiri, the reigning New York City Marathon champion, won the women's race in 1:06:33, an event record, by one of the widest margins the race has seen. Sharon Lokedi, last year's winner, was second in 1:07:10, the third-fastest time in the event's history, and Britain's Megan Keith ran 1:07:13 in her first half marathon. Emily Sisson was the first American in sixth, 1:09:06, with Amanda Vestri, Annie Frisbie, Susanna Sullivan and Emily Venters all under 70 minutes behind her.

Adriaan Wildschutt of South Africa won the men's race in 59:30 in his first NYRR race, 11 seconds clear of Zouhair Talbi, 59:41. India's Gulveer Singh was third in 59:42, the first Indian man under an hour. Alex Maier ran 59:51 for fourth, now the second-fastest American ever at the distance, and Grant Fisher made his road debut in 1:00:53 for 14th.

Eden Rainbow-Cooper won the women's wheelchair race in 54:27 by more than five minutes, and Daniel Romanchuk took a third men's title in 48:10.

Thirty thousand finishers and a course record in the same morning. New York does volume and quality at once, which is the whole trick.

Sources: New York Road Runners (via Running USA); World Athletics.