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NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - On the first Sunday in November each year, New York City effectively shuts down its streets to host one of the world's premier sporting events, the TCS New York City Marathon.
There are 26.2 miles, 1.6 million cups of Gatorade and water, $825,000 in guaranteed prize money for the winners, and more Vaseline than you want to think about.
Peter Ciaccia, the marathon's race director, says the 2017 race will have north of 50,000 runners. That makes it, once again, the biggest marathon in the world.
More than a million people will be cheering them along the course, throughout the five boroughs. Ciaccia says the race continues to get bigger and bigger from a spectator standpoint. He remembers a decade ago when 4th Avenue in Brooklyn was quiet. Now it's the place to be.
Ciaccia has been the race director for three years and a core part of New York Road Runners for 17 years.
He says, rest assured, this will also be the safest race come Sunday. Their goal, he says, is to deliver the safest, best experience to the runners, the spectators, and the NYRR staff. It's something they work very hard on, in conjunction with the City.
%INLINE%More than 200 NYRR staffers work on the race year round, with help from thousands of volunteers. This year, they have over 10,000 volunteers, plus 2,000 medical volunteers (doctors and nurses) who work with them on race day.
This year's marathon expo at the Javits Center is bigger and better than ever, too. They've added 114,000 square feet of space, have a brand-new shoe and apparel sponsor, New Balance, and 150 exhibitors. Ciaccia says you could spend 24 hours in the New Balance store alone.
The marathon has over 350 charity partners. Last year's race hauled in more than $36 million for those great causes.
One of the biggest concerns for runners come race day? Toilets. Ciaccia says they've got plenty of those too. There are over 2,000 along the course, 1,500 at the start alone.