Courtesy B.A.A.
Running often gives opportunity to eccentric talents. America’s great marathons have been shaped by some unlikely movers and shakers an image-conscious Romanian-born garment industry dealer; a quietly intellectual African-American grandson of slaves; a short-fused Scot from working-class Glasgow; a female CIA operative who never ran a step. Fred Lebow, Ted Corbitt, Jock Semple, and Gloria Ratti seem like
unlikely founders, yet each was key in making the New York City and Boston Marathons the triumphant events we now know.
The only one still with us is Ratti, now 89, and her contribution has been mostly under the radar. It began in the 1960s; her husband, the late Charlie Ratti, became hooked at age 41 as a runner dedicated though never elite. She accompanied him to race after race. But she has no skill at being inactive and became impatient with the sport’s ramshackle systems.
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Print When I was running and my legs started to hurt, I reminded myself that my brother has lost a leg to cancer already,” says Sandy Freiberg, pictured.
On September 13, Sandy Freiberg ran a marathon to honor his brother, Evan Freiberg, who is in his fifth year of cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Only Sandy didn’t run the race among a pack of people and with great fanfare at the finish line. He ran 26.2 miles entirely on his own.
Sandy had signed up to run the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon with Fred’s Team, one of MSK’s fundraising programs. Like many other in-person events this year, the race was canceled because of ongoing health and safety concerns brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.