Central Park cleared of downed trees for marathon

The tens of thousands of runners in the New York City Marathon this weekend will have a clear path through Central Park after workers labored to remove branches and trees downed by a late October snowstorm, park and race officials said Thursday.

Even though the cleanup will continue for a couple more weeks, the park will be ready for Sunday's massive marathon, which winds through the Manhattan park, Central Park Conservancy spokeswoman Dena Libner said. On Thursday, workers were high up in trees using saws to cut branches in danger of falling, and large trucks hauled away tree debris.

NYC Marathon spokesman Richard Finn said city agencies had done a superb job cleaning up after the storm, which dumped about 3 inches of wet, heavy snow in the park.

"All the people stepped up in New York City," he said at Central Park early Thursday afternoon. "The race course is clean. It's ready."

He said race officials were lucky the storm didn't hit on the weekend of the race because it would have caused some "major disruption."

"It would have been a spectacular shock," he said. "It would have been like playing in a blizzard in a football game."

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Thousands of trees were damaged — about 1,000 were expected to be lost — during the storm, affecting about 400 acres of mostly the southern end of the park. The storm caused an estimated $500,000 in damage.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Trees as large as 3 to 4 feet across were toppled, with snow weighing down leaves and branches until they gave way.

The marathon's finish line is in Central Park, but the race gets its start at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, with runners crossing first over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn and then traveling through the city's other boroughs.

More than 47,000 people participated in last year's marathon, and many thousands more watched from the sidelines, cheering the runners on as they weaved through the city's neighborhoods.