January 31, 2024The New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world. The race is held on the first Sunday of November and attracts professional competitors and amateurs from all over the world. Because of the popularity of the race, participants are chosen largely by a lottery system.
Lorinda McPherson and Enisa Birdahic, both from our Acute to Community Coordination team, were two such lucky participants last year.
Says Lorinda, “I wanted to run an iconic world major marathon; there is none more iconic (in my opinion) than the New York marathon!”
“The New York City Marathon was incredible and surpassed my dreams. The streets were lined with thousands of supporters, almost across the entire 42.2km course. The course in itself is iconic, covering all five Boroughs of New York and crossing five bridges.”
Enisa ran the Tokyo marathon in 2015. She says the atmosphere and support from the crowd at the New York Marathon was “unparalleled.” She estimates there were over two million spectators.
Enisa started running in her forties and was attracted to marathons, “as I wanted the challenge it offered.” She trained six days a week, “sometimes in rain, in the dark, and almost always on my own.” She says she is known in the local neighbourhood as the ‘crazy running lady’.
Lorinda on the other hand, was kept company by training partners, on bikes or running alongside her. She trained for over six months, with a run of 38km, being her longest training run.
She ran her first Melbourne Marathon at 28 years of age-the same age her father was, when he ran the first ever Melbourne Marathon in 1978. “I decided to run them for the challenge of both mind & body. It’s hard but worth it!” says Lorinda.
Lorinda is now training for the Gold Coast Marathon in July and says, “I would love to run another overseas marathon in 2025.”
Says Enisa, “I would love to run another marathon but suspect that being treated like a rock star by the people of New York is hard to top.”
Pictured from left to right: Enisa Birdahic and Lorinda McPherson
