New York City Marathon legend Dave Obelkevich, 82, reveals what’s kept him pounding NYC streets for five decades
When Dave Obelkevich first stepped foot on the New York City marathon course in 1973, he didn’t even have a bib number.
In fact, the then-30-year-old hadn’t even signed up for the race, he just thought the endurance course would be ‘fun to be a part of’ after seeing it on TV the year prior.
Fast forward more than five decades, Obelkevich, 82, is now getting ready to complete the New York City Marathon’s course for the 50th time.
But he still remembers his first attempt – albeit, an unofficial one – and the thrill he got when he saw the runners, including winner Ted Flemings, fly past him during one of the four Central Park loops that made up the course that year.
‘I shook my head and I said: ‘I can’t keep up with him even for one mile!” he told the Daily Mail ahead of his next marathon on November 2, which will mark his 49th consecutive entry into the race.
As Flemings breezed past him on 102th Street, Obelkevich hopped into the race and completed a six-mile loop around the park’s perimeter.
‘And then I went home!’ he said.
The next year, on September 29, 1974, he would officially enter the 26.2-mile race, finishing with a time of 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 27 seconds.
On Sunday, Dave Obelkevich will step on the NYC marathon course for the 50th time. He hopes it will be his 49th officially completed race and his 48th consecutive, after he didn’t finish in 1975
He placed 221st out of 259 runners – a far cry from the more than 56,000 runners who joined last year’s race.
He entered the next year, but was struck down by dizzy spells from the start. Several times throughout the course, the father was forced to lie down to avoid passing out.
‘I started off too fast and I kept getting dizzy, so I’d lie down in the grass for a while,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘And the seventh time this happened, I was at the northern end of the park, I had three miles to go.’
Then-Race Director, Fred Lebow, rolled by in his Fiat, and Obelkevich, unable to see a way to complete the race without facing more dizzy spells, accepted defeat and asked for a ride to the finish line.
‘He should have said: ‘Hell no, Dave, you only have three miles to go!’ Instead, he said: ‘That’s okay, get in the back.’ So it’s his fault I didn’t finish, not mine!’ he laughed.
In 1976, the first year the race spanned all five boroughs, Obelkevich redeemed himself. He finished the race with a time of 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 44 seconds.
Little did he know, the 1976 race was the starting line of a historic feat.
On Sunday, Obelkevich will step onto the course for the 50th time. It will be his 49th time as an official participant and his 48th consecutive race. It’s the longest streak in the 55-year history of the race.
Obelkevich, 82, (middle, in 2015) first entered the race in 1973 unofficially. The next year, he officially entered and finished
And he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
‘I’ve got to do it until I can’t,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘It’s like brushing your teeth every morning, you don’t think you have to do it. Running a marathon is not something you think you have to do, it’s something that’s done. It’s part of my DNA.’
For Obelkevich, it is easier to keep going than to stop.
‘If I stop, people are going to be like: ‘Why? Why did you stop? Did you get injured? Did you lose a leg or something?’ So, as long as I can do it, I’m going to keep doing it.’
His friends are also counting on him to keep the streak alive, something commemorated on the shirt he wears every year, which reads: ‘Finisher. Every NYC Marathon 1976-????’
His good friend, Tucker Andersen, 83, kept pace with Obelkevich until 2009. The pair even wore matching shirts. But the day before the big race, he called Obelkevich to tell him the devastating news: He was injured and wouldn’t be able to compete.
‘He fell a month before the race,’ Obelkevich recalled. ‘The day before the marathon, he called me and said: ‘Dave, I can’t do the race tomorrow.” And I said: ‘Why not?’ and he said: ‘It took me 10 minutes to go half a mile.”
It ended Andersen’s 33-year streak. He has completed every race since 1976, except for 2009 and 2012, records show.
Obelkevich holds the longest streak in the 55-year history of the race. And he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He has completed every race since 1976. ‘I’ve got to do it until I can’t,’ he told the Daily Mail
He wasn’t even aware he had a streak until the New York Road Runners called him one year to tell him
He currently holds the second-highest number of completed NYC marathons for male runners, with 46 total finishes, tied with David Laurance and just two behind Obelkevich.
Connie Brown, 81, holds the longest streak for women runners with 44. She did not compete in the 2024 race.
‘You can say it’s unique,’ Obelkevich, a Columbia graduate, who moved to the city in 1961, said of his streak.
He wasn’t even aware he had a streak until the New York Road Runners called him one year to tell him. He was later featured in Liz Robbins’ book, A Race Like No Other, alongside Andersen.
Obelkevich nearly lost his streak in the 1990s after he received a letter in the mail saying his application had been denied. His wife suggested he write to Lebow, but he never got around to it. Eventually, she did it herself, saving her husband’s streak.
In 2020, he ran into another problem: a leg aneurysm in his left limb. But luckily, due to the pandemic, the race was canceled, allowing him time to rest up for 2021 and saving his record.
As for this year’s race, Obelkevich said: ‘I’m prepared for it, yes indeed. Very excited.’
‘You bet!’ his wife, Lyn Dominguez, could be heard saying in the background.
Obelkevich running in the 2004 NYC marathon. Obelkevich nearly lost his streak in the 1990s after he received a letter in the mail saying his application had been denied, but his wife wrote to Fred Lebow to get him back in
Obelkevich is expected to be one of more than 50,000 running the race this weekend. During his first official marathon in 1974, there were only 259 runners. He finished 221st
Obelkevich got his start in running during his senior year of high school in Johnson City, New York, near Binghamton in the Western part of the state.
He joined the school’s track and field team and ran the 100-yard race, the only event he participated in.
‘I didn’t come in last, I came in next to last,’ he laughed. ‘I’d rather run 100 miles than 100 yards.’
And many he has.
Not only has he garnered 1,257.6 miles alone doing the New York City marathon, but he’s currently running 30 to 50 miles a week to prepare for the biggest racing weekend in the Big Apple.
He has also completed the Boston Marathon seven or eight times.
His longest race, however, is the South Africa Comrades Marathon, an ultramarathon that spans 54.6 miles.
He has participated in it 11 times and was the first American to complete it 10 times.
It is also where he picked up a pair of South African flag shorts, which he quickly became known for.
In total, Obelkevich has completed 115 marathons and more than 200 races that are longer than a marathon in his lifetime
And as he gears up for his 49th official race in the Big Apple, he’s certain he’s not done yet. ‘It won’t be my last, it will be my last one until the next one!’ (pictured: Obelkevich at the 2004 NYC Marathon)
Although he won’t be sporting them this year as the elastic has worn out.
Instead, he’ll be wearing his signature shirt and a pair of Fifth Avenue Mile shorts, which feature bright yellow streaks on the side.
In total, Obelkevich has completed 115 marathons and more than 200 races that are longer than a marathon in his lifetime.
And as he gears up for his 49th official race in the Big Apple, he’s certain he’s not done yet.
‘It won’t be my last, it will be my last one until the next one!’
