The first New York City Marathon took place on a warm September day in Central Park in 1970. Just 127 runners started the race and 55 finished. The course was four-plus hilly laps of the park's six-mile loop. The entry fee was $1, and the entire race budget was about $1,000. The top finishers were awarded wristwatches and recycled trophies.

The race was directed by New York Road Runners president Vince Chiappetta and Fred Lebow, an NYRR member who'd joined taken up running to improve his tennis game. Lebow got hooked on the sport and ran pretty much every NYRR race, including the 1970 Cherry Tree Marathon, held in February in the Bronx. "There were no spectators. Automobile traffic was difficult. Some kids threw stones," Lebow recalled in his 1984 book