By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Race organizers expect more than 2.5 million spectators to line the 26.2-mile route for the ING New York City Marathon, which snakes through all five boroughs on Sunday.
Race-watchers say the most dramatic view in Manhattan is of runners spilling down the ramp of the Queensboro Bridge at 59th Street and First Avenue, at the 16-mile mark.
Thousands of spectators line the route up First Avenue, with the marathon's biggest and loudest crowds standing several people-deep between 59th Street and 96th Street, the 18th mile of the race, according to race organizers.
"You hear the roar of the spectators, people start to scream, cheer. Yorkville vibrates with excitement," said Elsa Shay, who lives along the route on First Avenue.
"After a while, you can't hear yourself think," added Shay, 32, who plans to watch the event from her balcony this year.
Race organizers said crowds thin out through East Harlem as runners approach the Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx.
Just before mile 21, racers loop back into Manhattan via the Madison Avenue Bridge and run down through Harlem on Fifth Avenue. This is where elite runners usually stage dramatic breakaways before turning into Central Park at East 86th Street.
"Harlem is the best stretch," said Bettine Brown, who lives near Mount Morris Park at 120th Street.
"It's supposed to be the hardest part [of the marathon], so we've got music out here, and lots of kids come out to celebrate. We party at the marathon uptown," said Brown.
The race weaves down through the park and across Central Park South, where the crowds start to swell again, before it makes a final turn near Columbus Circle, which has bleachers set up for spectators.
Although it requires the longest wait, many fans said the most dramatic moments happen as racers approach the finish line on the west side of Central Park, near 67th Street.
"You wait hours but when they start to get here it's incredible," said Cris Chan, 27, a Hell's Kitchen resident. "It's where the elite runners push the hardest and the regular runners start to cry, or smile.
"There are so many emotions on show, even the people on the sidelines start to cry."
From the starting point in Staten Island to the finish line in Manhattan, the entire route is lined with entertainment stations for spectators, with 130 bands organized to keep spectators busy as they wait to cheer on the thousands of racers.
The first New York City marathon route in 1970 had 127 runners, and simply looped through Central Park several times. Sunday's marathon will have almost 43,000 runners, according to the New York Road Runners which stages the marathon, with spectators cheering along the entire 26.2-mile course.
