The ever-popular New York City marathon could grow to a weekend event with two races sometime down the road, organizers said this week.
"We could run on Saturday and Sunday," race director Mary Wittenberg said Wednesday. "The demand is there. When I started, there was a feeling that the marathon absolutely can’t grow anymore. But I don’t think growth is capped. People desperately want to run this race.”
About 47,000 runners are expected at this year's race, which is Sunday. A double weekend would allow as many as 100,000.
A source told the Daily News for its print edition Thursday that Road Runners, the race organizers, and city advisers have had "initial discussions" about the idea. Mayor Bloomberg's office told the News it wasn't aware of a plan to expand.
Wittenberg said the plan would mean shutting down traffic on the route for two days.
“We can grow until we run out of hotel capacity,” Wittenberg said. “There’s no rush. We won’t ever have more than we can handle. We want to put on the best possible race. This is a joint venture with the city, and it is always a cooperative decision.”
