The TCS New York City Marathon, produced by New York Road Runners, is known as one of the hardest marathons to conquer due to its course snaking through the city’s five boroughs and going over five different bridges.
It demands not just physical endurance, but mental as well — the climb up the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge is already a mile long.
It might be more difficult on wheels, but Paralympians Tatyana McFadden, Daniel Romanchuk and Susannah Scaroni have battled against physics, pavement, and pain to not just complete the marathon, but win the whole event as well, against some of the fastest racers on wheels.
Tatyana McFadden
Besides being the most decorated U.S. Paralympian track athlete with 20 medals — eight golds — and 24 World Major Marathon wins, McFadden has always been a strong advocate for the Paralympic Movement, starring and producing in the Netflix documentary “Rising Phoenix” to highlight Paralympic athletes and their journeys.
McFadden was born with spina bfida, and after being adopted from a Russian orphanage, she and her family overturned laws that prohibited wheelchair racers and able-bodied athletes from competing next to one another in high school competitions in the U.S.
She’s won the “tough, but really rewarding” NYC marathon five times, including four consecutively in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. However, she had a severe blood clot from her feet all the way up to her abdomen in 2017 that almost stopped her racing.
“That was probably the hardest part of my career, deciding, ‘Do I continue, or do I figure this out?’” McFadden told amNewYork. “I decided on option number two, and it was scary. It was really, really daunting.”
Training for 30 minutes felt “impossible,” but she got herself back up to speed and competed again in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. She thought it would be her last, saying, “The field was getting tougher, everyone’s getting faster.” However, the Maryland native still came out with a gold medal in the 4x100m universal relay, a silver in the 800m T54 race and a bronze in the 5000m T54 race. She won another silver and bronze medal four years later in Paris.
“I’m just proud of myself that eight years later, here I am, still being top three and not giving up on a really hard challenge,” McFadden said.
Daniel Romanchuk
Romanchuk missed out on the Chicago Marathon due to a dislocated shoulder injury but is looking to get back in his race chair in time to defend his 2024 NYC Men’s Wheelchair Division.
The marathon is one of the Paralympians’ favorites of the year due to the climbs and he will be going through the five boroughs with his sister, making this year “extra special.”
From Mount Airy, MD, Romanchuk’s hometown hills played a major role in Romanchuk’s racing career, especially when it comes to New York.
“It’s a very, very hilly course, so lots of lots of bridges, which I enjoy climbing,” Romanchuk told amNew York. “I’m used to the hills, so I love the first mile, not so much the second mile. I like climbing, not so much descending.”
Romanchuk got his start with the Bennet Blazers, an adaptive sports program in Baltimore, MD. He was swimming at the age of three, playing wheelchair basketball at four and taking part in sled hockey at five.
“I played a lot of the different sports that they offered, all the way until I aged out of the program,” Romanchuk said. “I’d say it was around 2015 that I kind of prioritized racing. I still did other sports — if there was a conflict, I would go to the racing event.”
His dedication to racing has won him a pair of gold and bronze medals across the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Paralympic Games, as well as becoming one half of the first American duo in NYC marathon history to win both the men’s and women’s wheelchair events alongside Scaroni.
Susannah Scaroni
With marathon wins in Boston, Sydney and Chicago already this year, Scaroni is aiming to add a fourth to this year’s honors by defending her NYC marathon title.
“The day before [the Chicago marathon], I was in a good mental space,” Scaroni told amNew York. “I was feeling good going into it and wanted to see what would happen, honestly. So I just had some great food throughout the day, rested, and was it pretty at peace, honestly.”
Like Romanchuk, Scaroni considers climbs and hilly races one of her strengths, meaning she prioritizes New York in the fall the most.
“Everything will be asked of me, and more to finish New York,” Scaroni told amNew York. “For me, it’s not really the competition part. It’s more about how personally challenging and rewarding finishing New York is.”
Scaroni broke McFadden’s course record in 2022 to take home her first NYC marathon win and has podiumed 19 separate times at Abbott World Marathon Majors races. Scaroni has also hauled in one gold, one silver and four bronze medals in the 2020 and 2024 Paralympics for Team USA.
She’s looking forward to competing on home turf in 2028 in Los Angeles, and is also “pumped because of all the impacts it can have on our nation for exposure to para sport and the different classifications and different kinds of para sport available.”
“That does so much for communities, does so much for individuals,” Scaroni said.
