By Jim Scott
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Road runners far and wide will find out Wednesday if they'll get to run in the 2011 ING New York City Marathon in November.
Runners who entered the competive lottery for a spot in the race can log on to the New York Road Runners website to find out if they've won a spot in the Nov. 6 2011 Marathon.
The New York Road Runners will kick off the Marathon Opening Day celebration — or their name for the day the lottery results are officially released — at noon on Wednesday with a live online broadcast hosted by WNBC-TV's Bruce Beck. The broadcast will feature special guests Al Roker, Edward Norton and Olympic gold medalist Apolo Anton Ono.
Runners still have a few ways to qualify for the race if they fail to get selected in the lottery. Entrants who have run an official qualifying time in a half or full marathon between Jan. 1, 2010 and January 2011 can get guaranteed entry if they apply by April 30. For example, men between the ages of 18 and 39 must have run a full marathon in 2 hours 55 minutes or less in the past year to qualify.
A qualifying time run in the 2011 Boston Marathon also earns runners a guaranteed spot.
Over 45,000 runners participated in the 2010 NYC Marathon. Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam won the men's title last year with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes and 14 seconds. In the women's race, Kenyan Edna Kiplagat crossed the line in 2 hours, 28 minutes and 20 seconds.
