NEW YORK--Fitness is a big thing here. Every day, especially
in the afternoon, as men and women in business suits and
sneakers catch the bus or trains, joggers in sweatshirts and
pants begin the daily race, a timer on the twist, or a dog by their
side.
A lot more are walkers. Some, like
the joggers, are fittingly attired and
shod, with giant earphones clipped
round their heads. Others, like me,
in regular cotton pants and jacket
and sneakers, tackle the sidewalks.
Serious runners and walkers do
train in gyms, health clubs and
fitness centers that seem to
dominate every block, like Crunch
and Equinox, the most prominent.
Such huge spaces have glass walls,
enabling passersby to glance at or
ogle muscles rippling in rhythm
with thumping, pumping black iron
machines, or stare at bare limbs
scissoring the inert air on
mechanical walkways.
In the evenings, these fitness halls are lit like ballrooms and
passersby can watch wound-up dolls of both sexes race
through an invisible wind, eyes on a timer or the giant screens
where the news or the day's sitcoms reel on. Naturally, runs and
marathons seem to be happening all the time.
I've witnessed an AIDS run and the New York Marathon, the
latter joined last October by more than 25,000 men and women
of all ages and fitness levels from all over the world, packed on
the Verrazano Bridge where it began, and thinning toward
Central Park, where the 26-mile course ended. Tegla Loroupe of
Kenya hit the finish line first, while a middle-aged couple came
in last, the day after.
First global championship
The first Avon Running Global Championship, held last month
at Central Park, was unlike any other road running event,
however. Presented as part of the New York Mini Marathon, the
10-km race drew 6,500 participants of different ages, sizes and
abilities from 21 countries, among them the world's fastest 10-km
runners. And all were women. It was also the richest in the
history of women's road running, with a total of $50,000 in
prizes.
''New York is synonymous with running and we believe no other
city can capture the excitement of hosting the first Avon
Running Global Championship quite like New York,'' said Susan
Kropf, president-North America.
The event capped a year-long series of 5 km and 10 km
runs/fitness walks and prerace running clinics Avon organized
initially in 12 countries to promote health and fitness among its
main clients, women. National champions and the fastest sales
representatives from the 12 Avon countries earned the privilege
of running with an elite field of international female track stars,
right in the heart of this fitness and running city.
''The quality and depth of this field is unprecedented in women's
running,'' said Allan Steinfeld, president and chief executive
officer of the New York Road Runners Club Inc.
Brave fight
The Philippines' Hazel Madamba and Alma Guiguing (sales
representative division), both 22, raced against this prestigious
lot, putting up a brave fight.
Hazel was among the first one percent to cross the finish line,
placing 52nd. Clocking 39 minutes and 46 seconds, she was the
second fastest Asian in the lead pack, trailing Thailand's
Kumpital Vilaiwan, who placed 42nd.
Elma, an Avon Lady in Dagupan City, came in 181st, still among
the top 3 percent, with a time of 46 minutes and 18 seconds.
Loroupe, two-time New York City Marathon champion and
winner of the recent Rotterdam and Boston marathons, finished
first in 31 minutes and 48 seconds. Ethiopia's Gete Wami, the
reigning world cross-country champion, came in second, with a
time of 32 minutes. One second later, Lidia ''Romanian Rockets''
Simon, Osaka Marathon champion, crossed the finish line,
settling for third place.
Also in the field were South Africa's Elena Meyer, an Olympic
silver medalist; USA Track and Field Long Distance Runner of
the Year Libbie Hickman, and New York Marathon defending
champion Kim Griffin. Meyer came in sixth, Hickman, 10th, and
Griffin 20th.
The Avon run started on 61st Street at Central Park West,
stretching on to 90th Street where the runners moved into the
park's recreation lane. The lane winds around a pool, goes up a
slight incline on a transverse, shoots past wooded areas, the
children's zoo and is crossed by a hundred footpaths. The finish
line was six streets and three avenues across the starting point.
'Natural wonder'
Central Park--that 843-acre ''natural wonder''--is where walkers,
runners, bikers, skaters, plain lovers of that space that pans out
to the skyline and open to the sky converge. They are found,
too, in parks lining the East River and Riverside in the west side.
The park was built 150 years ago ''to supply hundreds of
thousands of tired workers, who have no opportunity to spend
summers in the country a specimen of God's handiwork.''
From a swampy tract of mostly flat land, it now has lakes,
streams, gardens, meadows, lawns, over a hundred acres of
woodlands, 58 miles of winding footpaths and a four-mile long
bridle path.
To the Avon runners, of course, the spring flowers in The
Conservatory, around the Fountain of Four Maidens at Play, the
trellises, the trees in The Ramble or the wild woods, with leaves
in varying hues of green, must have all been just a blur.
Moments before the race, I joined the crowd of onlookers, on
the F line that spewed me out into Columbus Circle, walking
past the fountain and the winged figures on top of the park
gate. Walkers and runners of all ages had massed in the middle
of the avenue for the 5-km fun walk/run. I would have been in
this clump of red-vested wound-up rabbits but on signing up, I
was told applications were out three months earlier.
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