This runner finished last at the NYC Marathon. He feels 'blessed.'
Last place is typically not a cause for celebration. But for Joel Kaufman, bringing up the rear at the New York City Marathon on Sunday was "one of the great moments" of his life.
By finishing the race in 8 hours 43 minutes and 34 seconds, Kaufman became the final official finisher of the 26.2-mile race. His rank among the runners: 51,258th place. (More than 100 additional wheelchair and hand-cycle competitors also competed.)
Finishing last wasn't something the 65-year-old Queens resident expected to happen or even knew he had accomplished when he crossed the finish line with both arms raised high around 8:17 p.m. in Central Park. But on Monday, an official for the New York Road Runners, which organizes the New York City Marathon, called Kaufman to inform him that he was the last person to officially cross the finish line.
"I was loving every second of it," Kaufman said of the race. "It wouldn't have mattered if I was last or a thousand people faster."
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The challenge of determining last place
The New York City Marathon officially ends about 8.5 hours after the last wave of runners crosses the start line around 11:30 in the morning. That means that any participant who crossed the finish line by 8 p.m., give or take several minutes, was still considered an official finisher, said race director Ted Metellus.
The cutoff time is in place so that the city agencies have a general timeline of when runners and race personnel will be out on the course, he explained. "Assets and resources start to consolidate after a certain time," Metellus said. "We start to scale things down."
During the race this year, the timing team approached Metellus shortly before 8:15 p.m. so that he could identify the final official finisher. Kaufman just happened to be the next runner who crossed the finish line, completing the race at a 19:59 per mile pace. Waiting for him was a small, but loud crowd of spectators who cheered him on.
Kaufman, a retired former high school math teacher, took his time soaking it in. "The party atmosphere was incredible," he said. "I had my arms up. I was a superhero."
But determining last place can be complicated. Some official finishers actually ran slower than Kaufman, but they finished sooner because they started the race earlier. And even though Kaufman will remain the final official finisher, his place of 51,258 could shift as race organizers verify race results.
And then there are the stragglers - the people who kept running even after the race had ended. More than 40 runners crossed the finish after Kaufman. Their times are listed under "special results categories" on the New York City Marathon website.
The last unofficial finisher is believed to be 50-year-old Francine Silver of Rahway, N.J., who did not reach the finish line until 11:11 p.m.
"I was a little embarrassed at first, but there was so much encouragement," she said. "If you have to be a back of the packer anyway, why not be iconic and finish dead last?"
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Using a walk-walk method
Kaufman knew he would be at the back of the pack, but his finish time was slower than he had expected. At the race on Sunday, Kaufman figured he would be out on the course for seven hours using a "walk-walk" method: two minutes of a fast walk alternating with one minute of a slow walk.
But around the 11th mile, he started to get blisters on his foot. That's when, Kaufman said, he noticed a runner who appeared to be struggling. He told her that they would both get to the finish line. It motivated him to keep going, Kaufman said.
Kaufman has completed 10 marathons including six in New York City, which he finished to raise money for Team in Training, a charity that supports the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. He said he first ran the race in 2015 to honor one of his friends who had been diagnosed with leukemia, and that he has since raised about $100,000 with Team in Training.
Kaufman said the experience has been "a blessing." He appreciated that spectators waited and cheered for back-of-the-pack runners like him. He advises other runners to experience the energy of the crowd and acknowledge the people who come out to support you on the course.
"I don't care how fast you plan on going, you stop, you hug them, you take a picture with them, because that's what you're going to remember 10 years from now," he said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelled the last name of Francine Silver. The story has been corrected.
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