New York, September 20, 2016 — The best of the best wheelchair racers in the world will descend on New York City on Sunday, November 6, for the TCS New York City Marathon, including the USA’s 17-time Paralympic medalist Tatyana McFadden and South Africa’s eight-time Paralympic medalist Ernst van Dyk – both looking to defend their titles on the 26.2-mile course – announced Peter Ciaccia, president of events for New York Road Runners and race director of the TCS New York City Marathon.

McFadden, racing as an NYRR Team for Kids Ambassador, will go for her fourth consecutive and fifth overall title on the five-borough course, while van Dyk will go for his second consecutive and third overall title in a professional wheelchair athlete field that includes 25 Paralympians, seven of whom won a combined 19 medals – seven of those gold – at the Rio 2016 Games.

“We are very excited to have racing sensations Tatyana and Ernst return to defend their TCS New York City Marathon titles as part of an absolutely fantastic field,” said Ciaccia. “Our professional wheelchair athlete field truly represents the cream of the crop in para-sport this year, with many of these athletes coming off phenomenal, Paralympic-record breaking performances at the Rio 2016 Games. Having Tatyana also support and donate a racing chair to our newly launched NYRR Youth Wheelchair Racing program is a true testament to how she is inspiring the next generation as an NYRR Team for Kids Ambassador.”

McFadden, 27, of Clarksville, Maryland, is coming off a spectacular six-medal Paralympic performance in Rio, including gold medals in the 400, 800, 1500, and 5000-meter T54 events. It was the most medals for a U.S. track and field athlete at a single Paralympics since 1992. McFadden lowered the New York City Marathon event record last year by seven minutes and 20 seconds with a time of 1:43:04, which helped her complete an unprecedented third-straight Grand Slam sweep of the London, Boston, Chicago, and New York City marathons in a single year. Already this year, she has won both the Boston Marathon and London Marathon and finished second in the Paralympic Marathon to vault herself to the top of the Abbott World Marathon Majors Wheelchair standings with 66 points.

“I am so excited to return to New York City and race again as an NYRR Team for Kids Ambassador to help inspire the next generation of racing greats,” McFadden said. “Another TCS New York City Marathon title would be the perfect way to cap off what has been an amazing year, and to finish my season with a win in my home country would make it even sweeter.”

Fresh off her winning performances in Rio, McFadden will attend PS 333, Manhattan School for Children, on Tuesday, September 20 to help lead an NYRR Youth Wheelchair Racing Clinic and donate a racing chair to NYRR’s Youth Wheelchair Racing program. Twenty-five NYRR Mighty Milers – both able-bodied and disabled students – will take part in the clinic, which will highlight NYRR’s first-ever and free youth wheelchair program launched in early September. The program invites youth with a physical disability ages 7-21 to learn the fundamentals of wheelchair racing and try it out at Icahn Stadium in New York City. Schools, community centers, and organizations throughout New York City’s five boroughs are also encouraged to host NYRR Wheelchair Racing Clinics.

Van Dyk, 43, of South Africa, won the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon – by one second – in 1:30:54, the second-fastest time in event history. He is the two-time defending champion in the United Airlines NYC Half, having lowered the course record in 2015 to 48:54 before topping that this season with a time of 45:39. In addition to competing in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Marathon, he won gold at the Paralympics last week in handcycling. He has represented South Africa at every Paralympics since 1992 and has won the Boston Marathon a record 10 times, including six consecutive victories from 2001-2006.

“I’m really excited to be returning to New York City to defend my title,” van Dyk said. “New York City remains one of my favorite marathons because of the many ways in which the course challenges us as racers. The added twist of the Abbott World Marathon Majors this year makes it very exciting with all of us fighting for points as the series is nearing its conclusion.”

Additional Top Men’s Professional Wheelchair Athlete Backgrounds and Notable Performances

·         Kurt Fearnley, 35, of Australia, has won the New York City Marathon five times – including four consecutive titles from 2006-2009 – most recently taking the tape in 2014. His event record of 1:29:22 from 2006 still stands. Fearnley has captured 13 medals across five Paralympic Games, including a silver in the marathon T54 and bronze in the 5,000 meters T54 at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

·         Josh George, 32, of Champaign, IL, was the runner-up at the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon, finishing just one second behind van Dyk. He won the inaugural professional wheelchair athlete race at the NYC Half in 2014 and has won the Chicago Marathon three times (2003, 2004, 2006). The four-time Paralympian and five-time Paralympic medalist competed in five events at the Rio 2016 Games.

·         Marcel Hug, 30, of Switzerland leads the 2016 Abbott World Marathon Majors Wheelchair Series standings, having taken the tape at the Boston, London and Paralympic Marathons this year. He came away from the Rio 2016 Games with two golds and two silvers, making him an eight-time Paralympic medalist. Hug won the 2013 New York City Marathon with a ferocious charge to the line; he finished third at last year’s edition of the event.

·         David Weir, 37, of Great Britain, won the 2010 New York City Marathon and is tied for the most London Marathon victories with six, including three consecutive wins from 2006-2008. He took home four gold medals before his home crowd at the London 2012 Paralympics, including the marathon, and hecompeted in five events at the Rio 2016 Games.

Additional Top Women’s Professional Wheelchair Athlete Backgrounds and Notable Performances

·         Amanda McGrory, 30, of Champaign, IL, was the 2011 New York City Marathon winner – her second title in the event – breaking what was then the event record by more than two and a half minutes. That same year, she won the London and Paris marathons only a week apart. At the Rio 2016 Games, she won silver in the 1500 meter T54 and bronze in the 5000m and marathon T54 events.

·         Susannah Scaroni, 25, of Champaign, IL, is a two-time winner of the Los Angeles Marathon (2013, 2014) and Twin Cities Marathon (2013, 2014), who set a personal-best of 1:38:33 with her third-place finish at the 2014 Boston Marathon. The two-time Paralympian raced the 800m and marathon T54 events at the Rio 2016 Games.

·         Manuela Schar, 31, of Switzerland, was runner-up this year at the Boston and London Marathons, as well as the United Airlines NYC Half. In 2013, she won both the Berlin Marathon and IPC Athletics World Championship Marathon. Her second-place 1:44:57 performance at the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon made her the second-fastest woman of all-time on the course. She raced five events in the T54 class at the Rio 2016 Games, including the marathon.

·         Wakako Tsuchida, 42, of Japan, has won nine consecutive Tokyo Marathon titles from 2008-2016 and five consecutive Boston Marathon titles from 2007-2011. Her best finish in the New York City Marathon was second place in 2013. She is the first Japanese athlete to win medals at both the summer and winter Paralympics, and she finished fourth in the marathon T54 at the Rio 2016 Games.

Top Professional Men

Top Professional Women

The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon prize purse for the wheelchair division totals $103,000 plus time bonuses, one of the world’s largest marathon wheelchair division prize purses. The men’s and women’s wheelchair winners will each receive $15,000, with the top eight men and women earning part of the total prize purse.

The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon is part of the first year of wheelchair racing’s inclusion in the Abbott World Marathon Majors, a series made up of the world’s six largest and most renowned road races – the Tokyo, Boston, Virgin Money London, BMW Berlin, Bank of America Chicago and TCS New York City Marathons. This year’s series also includes the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Marathon. Points are allocated to the top five finishers in each race, with a $100,000 prize purse split evenly by the men’s and women’s wheelchair champions.

The 2016 TCS New York City Marathon will be televised live on Sunday, November 6, on WABC-TV, Channel 7 in the New York tristate area from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET, and for the rest of the nation on ESPN2 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.

About the TCS New York City Marathon

The TCS New York City Marathon is the premier event of New York Road Runners (NYRR) and the largest marathon in the world. Over 1,000,000 people have finished the race since its first running in 1970 with just 127 entrants and 55 finishers running four laps around Central Park. The race expanded to all five boroughs in 1976 and is now in its 40th year as a five-borough affair. Held annually on the first Sunday of November, the race features 50,000 runners including the world’s top professional athletes and a vast range of competitive, recreational, and charity runners. Participants from over 125 countries tour the city, starting on Staten Island at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and running through the neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx before ending in Manhattan. In 2015, the inaugural NYRR Youth Invitational at the TCS New York City Marathon gave young runners the opportunity to run 1.8 miles of the race course in Central Park, beginning near mile 24 and finishing at the famed TCS New York City Marathon finish line. More than one million spectators and thousands of volunteers line the city streets in support of the runners, while millions more watch the live television broadcast in the New York area on WABC-TV, Channel 7, nationally on ESPN2, and via various international broadcast partners around the world. The race is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, which features the world’s top marathons—Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York—and crowns the top professional male and female marathoners each year. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting, and business solutions organization, is the premier partner of NYRR and the title sponsor of the TCS New York City Marathon. The 46th running of the TCS New York City Marathon is set for November 6, 2016. To learn more, visit www.tcsnycmarathon.org.